Forrest and Slade, The Randle P McMurphy Mission
by P.J. Murphy
Summary: Jimmy Slade is ready to take over as the new Intersect for Chuck, but not everybody wants him to succeed. When he is captured, Alex Forrest must rely on old friends to help rescue him & uncover a conspiracy within the government. Story now complete.
1. Fallout on a Fall Evening

_Hello again. I hope everybody is having a good spring, although I imagine it improved greatly this week when we found out Chuck would get a 13-episode wrap-up next season. Like any fan, I'll be sorry to see it go, as I think it has been a wonderful series with great work done by the actors, the writers, and the entire crew. Not to mention the most dedicated fan base of any TV show this side of the original Star Trek. I guess something like that can be the impetus to get your creative juices flowing, as I completed the majority of this chapter once the renewal was announced._

_This is another entry into the Forrest and Slade series of stories. If you're not familiar with these stories, you can always go back to the first two F&S stories, **The Popeye Doyle Mission** and **The Zack and Paula Mission**, for a little background into these characters. This story takes place not long after **3 Weddings, a Funeral, 2 Retirements, and a Birthday**, where agent Jimmy Slade took over as the Intersect so Chuck and Sarah could leave the field and start their lives together as a married couple._

_Special thanks to **BDaddyDL** for letting me bounce a few ideas off of his head and to **MySoapBox** for proofreading a few of these paragraphs to make sure I still know what I'm doing._

_I hope you enjoy the story, and please feel free to leave reviews. Let me know what you liked or disliked about the story._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Unknown Location<br>October 10, 2011  
>10:30 AM<strong>_

"Please state your full name for the record."

"Alexandra Caroline Forrest."

"Date of birth?"

"August 24, 1977."

"Place of birth?"

"Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."

"Current position?"

"Field Operations Officer, Clandestine Services, Level GS-14."

Alex Forrest stared at the technician as he typed the information into his computer. She was still uncertain why, or even how, she ended up here. It had all the appearance of a federal holding facility, right down to the itchy, ugly jumpsuit she was wearing. Still, something felt very off about it.

She tried to keep her mind from focusing too much on the interrogation. The technician was about to ask the control questions for the lie detector test, and she wanted to make sure her mindset was in the same frame it would be when he started asking questions. Giving her a lie detector test was strange in and of itself. Every CIA agent knew how to beat a lie detector test; why even bother with it?

_They're stalling for time_, she thought. Something was going on. Perhaps this had nothing to do with her. As the number of missions she had been on in nine years was extensive...not to mention successful...there was always the possibility something in one of those missions would come back to haunt her. Some anal-retentive Congressman on the Intelligence Committee didn't like the way something was done and wanted someone's head on their platter. But that didn't feel right. The CIA was not immune to the rumor mill grinding out its grist. The majority of the time, an agent would have found out through said rumor mill they were in trouble.

_This has to be about James_, she thought. Alex had to redouble her efforts to keep her mind in that scattered state, but whatever was happening must have been related to Jimmy's abilities from the new Intersect. Jimmy had become, literally, the most advanced human being on the planet. He knew every piece of information from every intelligence agency with which the U.S. government maintained a relationship. He had knowledge of every combat skill, weapon, computer, and machine known to humanity. His IQ had more than doubled to somewhere in the 350-400 range. He even had limited telekinetic ability, although it was more effective when he used it on himself.

And through all of it, Jimmy still annoyed the living crap out of her with his humble-to-a-fault attitude.

Alex had talked a few times with Sarah regarding Jimmy, as Chuck and she were the ones who knew him best. Sarah preached patience with Jimmy, something Alex had to concede was not high on her list of skills. She still found Jimmy quite frustrating when he refused to take credit for anything he did. Her life was finally back to the way she wanted it, where she was never happier, and he would say it was all her.

Most people would say she fell in love with a wonderful man. If only Alex could convince Jimmy of that.

"I will now ask you a set of three questions to establish your baseline. Give a truthful answer to the first two questions, and please give an incorrect answer on the third. Am I wearing a white shirt?"

Alex concentrated to keep her mind unfocused, which was quite a contradiction but was still the first thing they taught her at Langley. "Yes," she replied in a monotone.

"Are you hooked up to a polygraph machine?"

"Yes."

"Is the color of your jumpsuit blue?"

"Yes," Alex replied to the question about her orange jumpsuit. The technician made a few more notes on his computer before continuing. Alex's mind drifted towards a more pleasant time.

_**Woodland Hills, California**_  
><em><strong>September 25, 2011<strong>_  
><em><strong>2:30 PM PDT<strong>_

_"I think it works."_

_"Really, Professor? Figured that one out all by yourself?"_

_Chuck's eyes widened. He cautiously glanced at Casey. "Case, he threw us across the room…FROM across the room. Are you really sure you want to insult the man right now?"_

_"Uh, no…no problem, Chuck. I'm too shocked to even register insults right now."_

Jimmy Slade stared in amazement at the Ring agents lying around him. He still couldn't believe what he just did. It felt like someone attached a generator to him and sent electricity coursing through his veins. His mind was operating in overdrive. What in the hell did Mr. Bartowski put in that new Intersect? He was quaking in fear. Thankfully, Chuck and Sarah were there to help him. Of course, they always helped him when he needed it. They looked after him like nobody had in his life. Taking over as the new Intersect so they could leave the field and live a happy life together was a no-brainer. Jimmy owed them that much.

_Jimmy slowly made his way to the car. Alex came over to him and kissed him._

_"Are you OK?" Jimmy asked Alex._

_"I'm doing fine. But the doctor said I'll be out of the field for a couple of weeks."_

_Jimmy smiled. "You think there's any chance Beckman will let me have some time off so I can take care of my new partner?"_

_Alex was surprised. "Your new partner? Me?"_

_"If you want to be. We worked well together before. And I'll need someone to keep an eye on me. Someone who won't let me turn into an arrogant jerk."_

_Alex couldn't believe what she just heard. "How in the hell could you EVER turn into an arrogant jerk?"_

_Jimmy looked off in the distance momentarily. A huge smile spread across his face. He turned to Alex and put his arm around her waist. They started walking towards the car._

_"Let me tell you a little story…"_

_**Santa Monica, California**_  
><em><strong>September 25, 2011<strong>_  
><em><strong>6:30 PM PDT<strong>_

"You're telekinetic?"

Jimmy got a weird look on his face. "Why is everybody focusing on that? You're making it sound like a bad 70's TV show. That's just one part of it."

"How can you be so calm about this? You're acting like you had a regular day at the office."

"Actually, I was calm because I was trying to enjoy our little dinner on the beach. Honestly, I'm more surprised I got this together in the span of an hour and a half. I thought you'd like it. The sun will be setting over the horizon in a few minutes. I figured you deserve a romantic evening, especially after the day we've had."

Alex exhaled and smiled. Jimmy was right; it was time to relax. She had been on pins and needles all day since Ilsa took her to the hospital to get her shoulder fixed. She was worried about Jimmy being captured by The Ring. Ilsa promised to keep tabs on what happened, but she had difficulty contacting anybody. Alex couldn't help thinking about John and how he was taken away from her ten years ago. She was fearful the person she loved even more than him would die trying to keep the Intersect from falling into enemy hands. As soon as Ilsa got through to John Casey, Alex insisted on going there, despite the hospital wanting her to stay overnight for observation. A leg broken in two places didn't stop her from detonating a Syrian chemical weapons lab in 2004; one little bullet in her shoulder sure as hell wasn't going to keep her from her boyfriend.

Alex slid her hand along Jimmy's cheek and gazed into his eyes for a moment before pulling him to her for a passionate kiss. "You might be surprised you can pull off a romantic dinner, but I'm not. You better be careful; a girl can get used to this kind of treatment."

Jimmy gave a gentle laugh and brushed back some of Alex's hair from her face. He gazed at her in silence.

Alex studied Jimmy's face. She frowned. "Is something wrong, babe?"

He looked down abashedly. "No, it's just..." He fell silent again.

"What?" she asked while gently cupping his chin and tilting his face upward.

"Well, you know how you hear about people picturing those 'perfect moments' in their life, how they're so magical, so special. I...never imagined what a moment like this would be like because I never thought I would have one. I didn't really have a lot of good moments growing up. None, in fact. I never dreamed about what I wanted in life because I figured it would be impossible to get. And now I'm here, with someone as incredible as you, and I...I don't know how to react...I'm sorry. I'm rambling."

Alex smiled and gave him a few gentle kisses along his cheek. "Don't be sorry. I'm feeling that, too. I didn't go through what you did, obviously. I had friends in school, and we got into trouble like everyone else. I thought I lost that when John died. I figured I would never be that happy again. But then you came along. I can't lie; I don't even know what it was that attracted me to you, but I felt something deep inside me come to life. Something I hadn't felt in over ten years. Like you said, there was something magical about it."

Alex grinned and arched an eyebrow. "Although it certainly helps you're ridiculously hot and amazing in bed." Jimmy smiled and self-consciously looked away. "Oh, don't even try to say you're not," Alex admonished.

"Sorry, it's just...I'm still not used to being told that."

Alex gripped his face tightly and all but wrenched it back to face her again. "My advice? Get used to it...quickly. That shy routine you have is really pissing me off."

Jimmy smiled and gave her a kiss. "I'll work on it."

Alex turned toward the ocean and shivered. Jimmy sat behind her and held her in his arms as he grabbed the second blanket he brought to the beach and wrapped it around them. Alex leaned back against him as she ran her fingers through his hair. He planted some gentle kisses along her neck, causing her to sigh contentedly.

"Mmmm, some of the nastier girls in school used to laugh and call me Giraffe for being so tall," Alex purred as she pulled Jimmy closer to her. "Payback's a bitch. Isn't it, ladies?"

Jimmy laughed. "I've never been anybody's payback before. This has definitely been a weekend of firsts for me."

Both of them fell silent and watched the sun slowly descend below the horizon. Alex felt a chill go through her and drew Jimmy around her more tightly. Jimmy glanced at her and was surprised.

"Are you OK?" he whispered as he gently wiped a single tear rolling down her cheek.

"John...John and I took a long weekend in Myrtle Beach once. We would walk the shoreline every morning and sat as the sun came up over the horizon. And..."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Jimmy said quietly.

"No, it's not a bad thing, James. I just...it used to hurt me when I was an agent. Those memories came back to me from time to time and reminded me of what I used to have. And not being able to feel that way anymore made me even more upset. It's no wonder why nobody ever wanted to work with me. But then what all of you did for me in Las Vegas..."

She fell silent for a moment, looking at the hues of orange and pink in the sky fading into darkening shades of blue as the night sky began to envelop them. "I was up that entire night after you rescued me thinking about everything that happened to me since 9/11. I was tired of denying myself what I wanted; tired of thinking I couldn't have it. I vowed right then to stop acting like some self-righteous bitch lashing out at anybody who actually deigned to be happy. I was going to go for what I wanted. And the first thing on that list was you."

She turned to face Jimmy and gazed into his royal blue eyes. "It was the best decision I ever made."

She slid her hand behind Jimmy's neck and kissed him with a fire inside of her blazing as hotly as it was on the dance floor the previous night when Jimmy said he loved her. She pressed up against him, pushing him down on the blanket as her kisses increased in fervor.

Her leg accidentally kicked the bottle of wine. It started to tip over onto the blanket. Jimmy's hand shot out, and the bottle froze in mid-air. He moved his hand, and the bottle glided through the air, gently depositing itself inside the picnic basket.

Alex watched the entire thing with wide-eyed astonishment. "OK. That will take a lot of getting used to."

"Sorry," Jimmy sheepishly replied. "It was instinct."

Alex glared at him. "You're apologizing for preventing a $300 bottle of wine from going to waste? Really?"

Jimmy rolled his eyes nodded in consent at how silly that sounded. "You're right. Why should I be ashamed of my new abilities? I'm sure the government will think of a few ways to put them to good use."

Alex grinned and gave him a hard kiss, her free hand roaming over Jimmy's body. "I know I have a few ideas on the subject."

They continued their torrid make-out session. Jimmy's hands slid under Alex's clothes to caress her skin. Her breathing became more labored as Jimmy fondled her breasts. She ground hungrily against him.

"Let's get back to the room, quick," she panted, resisting the urge to take Jimmy's pants off.

"You sure we can make it there? I mean, this is a pretty romantic setting already," Jimmy replied, equally out of breath.

"Making love on the beach is one of those things that sounds good in theory. I've tried it once or twice. But things get out of control because you're so turned on and sand ends up...everywhere."

Jimmy cringed a little at the thought. "Fair enough." He quickly stood and pulled Alex up with him. He grabbed the blankets and the picnic basket. The two ran back to the hotel.

They stumbled out of the elevator on the ninth floor with their lips permanently locked together. Jimmy struggled to stay balanced with all of the items from their picnic as they made their way back to Alex's room.

"Do you have the room key?" Alex breathlessly whispered, her lips barely away from Jimmy's to ask the question.

"Uh, front pocket," Jimmy answered with equally labored breathing.

He looked to his pocket, but his hands were already loaded down with the picnic basket and blankets. Alex grinned and slid her hand into Jimmy's pocket.

"Not the room key," Jimmy answered with a slight moan. "So not the room key."

Alex reached into Jimmy's other pocket to get the key. "How many chances do I get to tease you and you can't do anything about it?" she replied with a flick of her tongue at Jimmy's lips.

Jimmy quietly growled as Alex inserted the key card into the lock and opened the door. Jimmy dropped the picnic basket and blankets on the floor as Alex continued kissing him. She started pushing him towards the bedroom and tried to take off his shirt. However, unbuttoning his shirt with one hand quickly became problematic.

"OK, you're going to have to help me here," Alex said impatiently.

"Wait, are you sure we should be doing this? Ilsa said you left the hospital against the doctor's orders. Maybe we should just..."

"You have to be kidding." Alex's voice was practically a growl. "You take down The Ring, you save Chuck, Sarah, and Casey, and you even take me out for a romantic night on the beach. Do you really think you're not getting some tonight? You'll never get luckier if you draw a royal flush in the Emperor's Room at Caesar's Palace. Clothes off, now."

Jimmy relented and quickly unbuttoned Alex's shirt. She flitted her tongue against his as she removed his belt and pants. He barely had enough time to remove Alex's bra and panties when she pushed him down on the bed. She straddled him and kissed her way up his chest.

She looked into his eyes in complete carnal lust. "So, anything in the Intersect that covers our current situation?"

Jimmy was a bit surprised. "But isn't it more sweet and romantic if I try to do this myself without any help? Wouldn't that prove how much I love you?"

Alex caressed his cheek and kissed him deeply. "That is very romantic, James. And I absolutely love you for thinking that." She kissed him hard and pushed his hands over his head. She locked her legs tightly around him and pinned him to the bed. "But not tonight. Now flash or I'll do things to you that are illegal in twelve states."

Jimmy shook his head with a tired smile as Alex kissed him deeply and put his hands on her breasts. Jimmy's eyes darted around in a bit of a zig-zag pattern as his Intersect found exactly what Alex was looking for.

His eyes stopped darting around. He gazed into Alex's ocean blue eyes with the same expression of want. "To quote Marvin Gaye, let's get it on."

Alex grinned and kissed him hard.

_**Washington, D.C.  
>September 26, 2011<br>8:15 AM EDT**_

Bill Ganz walked into the offices of the Director of National Intelligence and placed his electronic badge against the gate. It dutifully opened for him, and he took the elevator to his office on the 14th floor. He noticed the charged atmosphere in the DNI this morning. Everybody walked with an extra spring in their step. He saw something similar to this almost five months ago when everybody walked in the morning after the President announced Osama Bin Laden had been found and killed. Not that he cared about it. One less fanatic, even one with the resources Bin Laden had, was not going to change the world much. He was part of something much greater, something far more organized and better-funded. And they had a purpose beyond bringing down Allah's 'enemies'.

"Here are the latest flash memos, sir," Lieutenant Cates said as she handed him a single-use flash drive.

"Thank you, Elaine," Ganz crisply replied as he took the flash drive from his assistant.

"Big day, sir, if the water cooler talk is accurate."

"What is going on?"

"The reports are still coming in, but the rumor is The Ring was taken down once and for all."

Ganz nodded. "That'll make life more pleasant for a while if it's true."

Ganz walked quickly into his office and closed the door. His businesslike demeanor faded instantly, and he could feel the blood drain from his face. The Ring was no more. The organization he had been feeding intel over the past four years had been taken down.

He quickly took out his Ring-issue phone and tried calling a couple of numbers. Every single one replied with a computerized shrill tone. He quickly ripped the back off the phone and removed the battery to not risk anybody tracing it.

He went to his computer, entered his password, and waited for the monitor to confirm his identity with a retinal scan. Once the desktop showed on the screen, he quickly inserted the flash drive Cates gave him and glanced through the memos on it. The information was sketchy, and certain paragraphs were redacted. However, three words on the screen caught his attention: Bartowski, Murdock, and Intersect.

Ganz closed the memos. He pulled the flash drive out of the computer, which promptly started making a high-pitched noise. He dropped it in the secure firebox underneath his desk and sealed the lid. The flash drive sparked and fizzled inside the box. Ganz always thought it was funny that was the one part of _Mission: Impossible_ they actually got right. Of course, in 2011 they were past the days of flash paper and tape recordings. He sat back in his chair. He knew more about the Intersect project than the average operative at the DNI, as he had both the information from The Ring and his bosses in the government to help him. He was the one who got Dana Browning a position at the DNI, and he was also the one to tell The Ring where the computer holding the new Intersect was being housed.

But all of the effort and risk he took for them was in vain. They were gone. The Five Elders were captured. He had heard of this Agent Murdock before. He even passed by him in the hallway of the DNI back in early March. Until a year ago, nobody had heard of the man. Suddenly, he was one of the top agents the government had. Obviously this Roger Murdock had to be someone with a new identity; perhaps someone the government had dealings with before. But it was Murdock's involvement with the Intersect project that caught Ganz's attention.

He sat for a minute and gave his situation some thought. Sitting around and doing nothing was not an option. Eventually, the NSA would go through the extensive files The Ring had and discover he was a mole inside of their organization. His offenses would not be resolved with a jury trial. The Agency was quite efficient at dealing with traitors like him. But perhaps he could turn this to his advantage. The possibility existed the remnants of The Ring could be reorganized. He could use his knowledge as leverage should a new organization appear.

Ganz grabbed a few files, exited his office, and told Cates he would be back by lunchtime. He needed to do some research far away from the prying eyes of the DNI.

_**Unknown Location  
>October 10, 2011<br>10:45 AM**_

Alex noticed the taller man enter the interrogation room as the technician readied himself with the first set of questions. This person, however, was content to just stay in the back and watch the proceedings. He kept his expression unreadable. However, Alex knew he was someone of interest in whatever was going on. The technician and the guard standing in the corner with their hand covering their sidearm were just worker drones.

"How long have you worked for the CIA?"

_Softball questions_, Alex thought. They knew the answers to these already, so lying was pointless. "Almost ten years," she replied.

"How many missions have you completed?"

"Fifty-six."

"Four years ago, you were transferred to Washington, D.C., where you were tasked with assessing personnel."

"Correct." Alex tried to keep her mind focused on many things at once, but she was starting to wonder why they were asking so many questions to which they already knew the answers.

"And you remained in that position until a year ago, when you were assigned as a team lead for an operation in Las Vegas."

"Yes." At least now Alex knew this interrogation was about Jimmy and not her. They were heading in that direction.

"What was your assignment?"

Alex decided to be cryptic, just in case. "We were tasked with the capture of individuals who were intent on gaining sensitive information."

"What kind of information?"

"Files regarding certain overseas groups."

The technician was getting frustrated. "I want specific information on the files."

Alex had him. It was time to go on offense. "And why do you need information from me that you already have?"

"Answer the questions completely and truthfully, Agent Forrest."

"Why do you need to know? Is this an authorized interrogation?"

The technician slammed his fist on the table and bolted up. "Agent Forrest…"

The technician was interrupted by the tall man gently clearing his throat. The technician looked back to him, and the tall man gave a quick shake of his head. The technician exhaled and sat back down.

"When did you first meet Roger Murdock?"

"I met him on the mission in Las Vegas."

"He was another part of your assignment in Las Vegas, is that correct?"

She wasn't sure why they kept feeding her questions for which they already had the answers, but she played along. "It was his first assignment, and I was to assess his effectiveness as an agent."

"And what was your assessment of him?"

"Since you know the mission in Las Vegas was a success, I think you already have the answer."

"I want specifics as to what he did on the mission."

"We drew up plans to apprehend our targets, and he executed his assigned roles adequately."

The technician started to get aggravated again, but a quick look back to the tall man calmed him down.

The technician flipped to the next page in his notes. "I want to ask some questions about your mission in New York last November."

_**Santa Monica, California**_  
><em><strong>September 26, 2011<strong>_  
><em><strong>7:30 AM PDT<strong>_

Alex had heard the classic phrase 'be careful what you wish for; you may get it' many times before. However, this could very well have been the first time learning that lesson was a good thing.

Jimmy and she spent the entire night making love. She thought their night together following the wedding was an amazing experience, but Jimmy managed to top that last night. He pleasured her in every conceivable way she knew and several she never even heard of. At one point, tears actually came down her cheeks from how good it was.

Whatever it was Mr. Bartowski put in that new Intersect, Alex was going to send him Christmas gifts every year for the rest of his life.

She lay in the bed next to Jimmy's naked form, both of them still bathed in sweat from such an incredible night. Her injured shoulder was throbbing in pain from lying on it during the night, but she could care less at this point. Despite the danger they had been in, Alex still considered this weekend one she would never forget.

She slid on top of Jimmy to take the pressure off her injured shoulder. She kissed his chest, tasting his salty skin. She recognized the cologne he wore as one of the ones the CIA recommended. She could only shake her head and smile when she found out several years ago actual taxpayer money was spent on matching different types of scents with the body types and personalities of their agents. On the good side, they gave Jimmy the right recommendation.

Jimmy's smartphone rang on the nightstand. She reached over to get it, and Jimmy stirred at feeling Alex's naked body sliding against him.

"Mmmm, do anything you want, as long as I don't have to move," he quietly groaned.

Alex laughed and gave him a kiss. "It's just your phone, babe." She paused for a second. "But hold that thought."

Jimmy took the phone from her and hit the button to answer it. "Murdock here."

"WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOING ON?"

Jimmy recoiled at Beckman's furious greeting. "General?"

"You had no authorization to download the new Intersect!"

Jimmy rolled his eyes and Alex shrugged, having heard Beckman loud and clear. "The Ring attacked the facility, General. All of us would be dead if I didn't do that. I figured you'd be doing cartwheels right now. The Five Elders were captured, and so were all of the agents they sent."

"I want you on the next flight to D.C. I'm not putting you in the field until I have all of the information Mr. Bartowski conveniently forgot to tell us about the new Intersect."

"Uh, respectfully General, shouldn't I finish up out here first?"

"If Agent Forrest needs her boy toy so badly, she can accompany you. Get her off of you and arrange a flight immediately!"

Jimmy looked at his phone disdainfully before tossing it aside and looking up at Alex. Alex shrugged.

"I seriously doubt we were fooling her, anyway," she said with a hint of a smile.

"I get the feeling we're in for a long couple of days."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Alex said as she kissed him and caressed his face. "All of us know you did the right thing. There's no way in hell you should be in trouble for taking down The Ring. Beckman wasn't expecting this to happen. None of us were." She held up her injured arm as proof. "But it was still a success, thanks to you."

Jimmy nodded and pulled her to him for a kiss. "Thanks," he said with his usual shy smile. He tried to get up. "I should see what flights are available."

Alex pressed him back down. "James, it'd take two hours to get to LAX if we're lucky. Then it's a six-hour flight, plus three hours time difference. We wouldn't see her today unless she wanted to stay in her office until midnight. So we have a few hours before we have to go."

Jimmy smiled. "You're right. I just need to relax."

Alex arched an eyebrow, kissed Jimmy hard, and slid her hand between them. "I didn't say you'd get to relax."

Jimmy lay back on the bed and moaned quietly. "I think you wore me out last night."

Alex grabbed his face to look into his eyes. "Never underestimate me in the bedroom, Slade."

Alex started kissing all along his neck and tickled his ear with the tip of her tongue. She whispered a few things into his ear. The effect was instantaneous.

"OK, apparently I'm not as out of it as I think."

"Not while I'm around, you're not," Alex said in a throaty voice as she kissed and licked her way down his body.

_**Washington, D.C.  
>September 27, 2011<br>12:15 AM EDT**_

There was one distinct advantage to having an executive position in the office of the Director of National Intelligence: nobody questioned you if you had to work late. Bill Ganz had every intention of using it to his benefit tonight. He spent his morning studying the files coming in regarding the capture of the Five Elders and everything he had on the Intersect project. He spent the afternoon studying the specs The Ring had on the computer systems in the DNI. Even though he had provided some of that information himself, the files they possessed gave him what he needed to hack General Beckman's private drive. After the attack Dana Browning orchestrated in the DNI back in April, Beckman kept the important files regarding the Intersect project on her computer and nowhere else. Ganz downloaded those files and went through all of them.

Some of the statements from the interrogations of Ring agents were astounding. They described one person taking the entire group down with speed and agility they had never seen in their lives. There were even rumors of this same man taking everyone's guns by magic and levitating people through the air. He would have normally dismissed this as the ramblings of someone who lost their mind, but the reports were too consistent for that. If this was the work of Murdock, preventing him from working even one day for the government might provide Ganz some serious cache with whoever may emerge to fill the void The Ring left behind.

There was always another group with the will to exert its influence in the government like Fulcrum and The Ring. Bill Ganz might be able to provide the means. But it would mean planning and organization. And the government might even be able to help.

_**Washington, D.C.  
>September 27, 2011<br>8:15 AM EDT**_

Alex and Jimmy walked into the office of General Beckman. They stood outside the closed doors.

"Just relax," Alex told him while squeezing his hand. "You have the facts on your side. You didn't know what was in that Intersect, either."

Jimmy shook his head. "But it's going to make for one interesting conversation."

She smiled. "I don't doubt that." She gave him a kiss…and General Beckman once again interrupted a tender moment.

"Agent Forrest," Beckman said with some derision. "I should have guessed you'd escort Slade up here. I may as well talk to you, too."

Beckman turned on her heel and reentered her office. Alex and Jimmy followed close behind. Beckman's assistant closed the doors behind them. The General picked up a file from her desk as she sat down. The agents sat down as well.

"I read your reports. Can someone explain to me why two agents no longer on the active list and a pair of civilians were involved in this?"

"It was coincidence, General," Alex replied. "Colonel Casey and Ilsa Trinchina were meeting me for lunch when The Ring attacked me in my hotel room."

"And I seriously doubt anything could have stopped those three from coming to get me," Jimmy added. "I think even you'd have to agree with that, General."

"Agent Slade, were you aware of what Mr. Bartowski intended to put into the Intersect?"

Jimmy shook his head. "We were all shocked by what happened in the Intersect room. Honestly, I still can't believe it. I had every intention of destroying the Intersect so it wouldn't fall into The Ring's hands. But with Chuck, Sarah, and Casey there, I thought we could complete the mission."

"Respectfully, General, the mission was a success," Alex said. "Maybe it didn't go according to plan, but the Intersect works and The Ring is finished. I don't see the problem."

"The problem is what we will do with Slade," Beckman countered, her voice inching towards where it was when she greeted them yesterday morning. "The President's advisors had no idea what Mr. Bartowski planned with the new Intersect, and some of them are convinced we should terminate Agent Slade…permanently."

"Over my dead body," Alex hissed.

"Agent Forrest, do not take that attitude with me," Beckman replied with dangerous undertones. "You do not want to put yourself in a position where you become more trouble than you're worth."

Alex settled back in her chair, but she still looked ready to attack Beckman in order to protect Jimmy.

"For now, I'm keeping both of you off of active status until it is decided what we will do with Agent Slade. Might I suggest you take a vacation somewhere. Dismissed."

Alex and Jimmy stood and exited Beckman's office. They got on the elevator, and Jimmy pressed the button for the Lobby.

"Thank you," Jimmy said quietly.

"For what?"

"The way you stuck up for me in there. I know I'm not the best when it comes to defending what's right. And saying that you wouldn't let them eliminate me, that…"

Jimmy let the words trail off. Alex turned him to face her and took his hand. "You did fine. You said what needed to be said, and you didn't back down. And I said I wasn't going to give you up. They're not going to take you away from me. Not if I have anything to say about it. I love you, and I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

Jimmy gazed into her eyes and saw that confidence in her he always saw, no matter what the situation. He spent so many years being betrayed by almost everyone he ever knew, even his father. To hear Alex say the words she did to Beckman was humbling. He knew he couldn't give her up, either. And he would do anything to protect her as well.

He gently took her face in his hands and gave her an arduous kiss. "I love you, too," he gently replied.

The elevator opened on the ground floor. Alex and Jimmy walked out holding hands.

"So, do we actually follow Beckman's orders and go on vacation?" Jimmy asked her.

Alex paused for a moment. "My mother always wanted to see Ireland. Her parents were born there and emigrated to the States just after World War I. My father and she were all set to go when they discovered she had an inoperable tumor. I was in London three years ago on an assignment but didn't get a chance to see Ireland. What do you think?"

Jimmy nodded and smiled. "I'd love to go. I didn't get to see much outside of Belfast. Besides, I bet you'd look totally hot in one of those sweaters they wear."

Alex wiggled her eyebrows at him. "And if you play your cards right, I may wear only that."

"Mmmm, I'm excited already," Jimmy replied in a low voice that would make Barry White proud. They headed for their car.

_**Unknown Location  
>October 10, 2011<br>12:45 PM**_

A pair of guards led Alex back to her holding cell. She kept her face expressionless, but she was still confused. After answering the questions about her mission in New York last November the same way she answered all the other questions…by not giving specifics and throwing it back in the technician's face…she was told there would be more questioning later. She was having a hard time wrapping her head around what was going on. They kept asking her about things anybody with sufficient clearance could read about themselves.

_Is this a smokescreen?_ she thought. Were they just going through the motions because they had something else in mind? She had the distinct impression the man who watched her interrogation earlier knew more than what the technician and the guard were told. He must have had some agenda he was following. Perhaps he was operating outside of government scrutiny but was putting on the show to get cooperation from the others. _A mole?_ The thought crossed Alex's mind, but it wouldn't make sense unless…

Suddenly, the guards pushed her forward as if to hurry her back to her cell. Alex's eyes darted around. She caught a glimpse of someone in the cross-hallway. It was definitely a man and was someone imprisoned like her, as he also wore an orange jumpsuit. Alex did a double-take and pushed her way past the guard behind her. She chased Alex down the hall. Alex made it to the cross-hallway and saw who it was.

They had Jimmy. Judging by the way the guards were guiding him down the hall, he was heavily sedated.

_Oh, my God_ was Alex's last thought as the guard took out her taser and zapped Alex, who fell to the ground.


	2. Just a Song Before I Go

_Hello. It took me some time to get this next chapter ready, as it was the one chapter that left the most up in the air at the outset. I decided to split the original chapter into two parts so nobody got overwhelmed with reading a huge chapter. Also, it gives me some breathing room to see where I want to take the story._

_I want to dedicate this chapter to two individuals who were huge fans of Chuck fanfiction who were taken away from us: Armadilloi and PassionOverMind. Armadilloi was one of the best authors in the Chuck universe, and his stories are still read on a daily basis years after he wrote them. PassionOverMind always had kind words for my stories, and I hope she realized how much everybody appreciated the reviews she left. She will be especially missed._

_The "T" rating gets pushed a bit, but I tried to keep it from crossing the line. Please enjoy this chapter and leave a review if you get a chance._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Unknown Location<br>October 10, 2011  
>6:45 PM<strong>_

Alex woke up six hours later to find herself on the floor of her cell. Her head was still pounding from being tased, but the pain was nothing compared to how she felt inside to see Jimmy being led around the same facility in a barely-coherent state. She struggled to pull herself up to her cot. She managed to sit down, and her head dropped straight into her hands from feeling so heavy. She struggled to get her emotions under control. Not for the first time in the past year, she wished she could go back to being the cold-hearted bitch she was for almost a decade. She was at her best as an agent when she was that way, and she needed it now if she was going to figure out what was going on.

The last thing she remembered before waking up here was Dublin. Jimmy and she were having the time of their lives. The enjoyed the countryside, they visited the home of her mother's parents, and she even managed to talk Jimmy into serenading an entire pub with a few songs. But after that…nothing. _Were we drugged? _she thought. There was some logic to that; it would certainly explain how they ended up here. But it wouldn't explain why. Why would the government…if they were the ones to do this…lock them up? It made no sense at all.

The door to her cell opened, and the guard dropped a tray of food on the table next to Alex's cot. She looked at Alex like she just scraped her off the bottom of her shoe. Alex was surprised to see such contempt coming from the guard.

"Wait, I need to talk to someone," Alex said in desperation as she stood. "There's been some sort of mistake. Please, let me talk to General Beckman…"

She said nothing else as the guard took out her baton and smashed it across Alex's face. Alex fell to the ground and then screamed in pain as the guard sent the baton into her ribcage.

"You're lucky I don't kill you, bitch." The guard hovered over the prone Alex, looking as if she may kill her anyway. "What you made that poor guy do, you traitorous whore."

She gave another swing of her baton to Alex's head, and Alex lost consciousness once again.

_**Aer Lingus Flight 234  
>September 30, 2011<br>12:15 AM EDT**_

Jimmy looked out the window in his first-class seat as their plane crossed over the Atlantic Ocean on its way to Dublin, even though the only thing he could see was the glow coming from the navigation lights on the wing. He tried to get some rest earlier, but he still couldn't fall asleep on a plane. He wished the new Intersect had something to deal with this, but it didn't work that way. It wasn't as if he could flash and fall asleep. His mind was always racing when he was in the middle of a flight, thinking about anything and everything. Now that the new Intersect made that condition almost permanent, he didn't even bother trying. Normally, he'd go over the information regarding the mission he was on, but tonight he was going on vacation. Actually, he was going on vacation for the first time in his life. All of the travel he did in his life up until now was business-related. He never went anyplace just to enjoy himself. Most of the time, he didn't think he deserved to go. Not to mention, there was never anybody to go with him.

Thanks to the woman sleeping next to him, those two excuses could now be crossed off the list.

He turned to Alex, who was curled up in her seat with a blanket covering her and her pillow resting against Jimmy's shoulder. Jimmy looked at her and still couldn't believe it. She was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen, and she loved him. How did he manage to pull that off? Despite almost every single person telling him otherwise, he didn't still consider himself to be anybody special. He was done hating himself; even he had to admit he had no reason to hate himself anymore. But he still couldn't wrap his head around how much good fortune he encountered in the last year. It was almost as if he was making up for forty bad years with what happened to him over the last twelve months: reuniting with Chuck, Sarah, and Casey, reconciling with Stephen Bartowski, receiving the new Intersect, and falling in love with Alex. It was mind-boggling.

He leaned over and tenderly kissed Alex in her hair, lingering there to take in her scent. She gently stirred, her hand gliding over Jimmy's chest. She slowly opened her eyes and gazed at him.

"Didn't you get any sleep, babe?" she asked tenderly while running her hand over his cheek.

Jimmy shook his head. "I have trouble sleeping on planes. I always have."

Alex sat up and checked her watch. "What did you do for the last three hours while I was sleeping?"

"I was just sitting here and thinking. I thought about everything that's happened to me lately. It feels like I won the lottery, the way things are going. Especially in meeting you," he said softly as he gave her another kiss to her temple.

Alex pulled his face to hers and lovingly put her lips on his. She wrapped her arm around his neck and embraced him to the point of suffocation as her kiss became more and more fervent.

"I feel the same way, James," she breathlessly replied before kissing him again. "I can't believe how lucky I am to have fallen in love with you."

She turned so she was kneeling on her seat. She continued her assault on Jimmy's lips as she took his hand and slid it under her skirt.

"Mmmm, you do realize that's one of my biggest turn-ons when you slide my hand up your thigh like that."

"That's kind of the point," Alex purred without breaking contact. "Plus, I wanted to give you a little surprise."

Jimmy continued to caress her thigh in the same spot. Alex was starting to get impatient. "Seriously, do you need directions?" she growled in annoyance.

Jimmy exhaled and moved his hand upward. His eyes widened.

"Going commando, I see," he said as his tongue playfully flicked at hers.

Alex's mouth dropped open and her eyes closed. "Because I knew you'd start doing that," Alex moaned as Jimmy finally got a clue why Alex decided to go without panties.

Suddenly, Jimmy's eyes darted around looking at the other passengers. "For a couple of covert agents, we really suck at the covert part," he said quietly to Alex.

Alex caught on and sat down again. She tried to cover herself with her blanket and pull Jimmy's hand over to her, but the divider made what they were doing way too obvious.

"Dammit," she hissed as she slammed her fist on the divider between their seats. "I knew there was still one reason why coach is better." She looked around at the other passengers, the majority of whom were either asleep or otherwise occupied. "OK, wait sixty seconds. And be subtle."

Alex stood, smoothed out her blouse and skirt and casually walked back to the lavatory. Jimmy tried to count to sixty seconds, but he only managed to make it to thirty-five before getting up and following her. He gave a quiet knock while looking around to see if he had aroused anybody's suspicions. The door opened, and Alex pulled him inside. He barely managed to get the door locked as they kissed like it was their last night on Earth. They stumbled a bit inside the tiny lavatory as they tried to undress each other. Some mild turbulence knocked them backwards. Jimmy's head hit the wall hard.

"Shit, are you OK?" Alex panted as she grabbed Jimmy's head.

"No problem, no problem," he quickly replied. "Just like the headboard back home."

Alex laughed as she tried to move them into position. She growled at her sling and ripped it off of her.

"My arm's healed enough," she muttered. She slammed the toilet seat down and sat down on it to regain her balance.

"OK, that isn't very practical," Jimmy said, noting how they were situated.

Alex looked up at him and wiggled her eyebrows. "I know one thing I can do from here," she said in a teasing voice as she unzipped Jimmy's pants.

Jimmy gently pulled her up and switched places with her. "Not that I wouldn't love that, but it doesn't seem fair for all the effort we're putting into this."

"You really need to learn to be at least a little selfish," she replied as she gave him a hard kiss and pulled his pants the rest of the way down. She tried to straddle him, but there wasn't enough room around Jimmy's lap.

"Dammit, why couldn't you be built like Jim Carrey instead of Dwayne Johnson?" she hissed at him.

Jimmy huffed in frustration and stood up again. He lifted Alex up and deposited her on the sink. She leaped back in his arms.

"Cold! Too cold!"

"Sorry, sorry," Jimmy replied as if he accidentally stepped on her toes. He thought for a moment before taking his dress shirt off and removing his t-shirt.

"Not sure where you're going with this, but I like it already," Alex lustfully replied as she kissed and licked his chest. Jimmy held out his t-shirt behind her back and folded it several times. He slipped it underneath her onto the sink. He then gently lowered Alex onto it.

"Much better," she replied as she slipped his boxers down. She tried to get her legs around Jimmy. She slipped one leg around but accidentally spiked Jimmy in his groin with her heel. Jimmy yelped.

"Sorry, so sorry," she said.

"I know how I said I love seeing you in heels, but that's not the reason why," Jimmy said as he winced in pain. "That 5'10" of yours is almost all leg."

"Well, this would be easier if you were a lot smaller," Alex seethed. Jimmy gave her a weird look. "Not that way!" she snapped.

Jimmy laughed hysterically, and Alex exhaled before cracking up herself.

"This is another one of those 'it sounds great in theory' situations, isn't it," Jimmy said with a huge smile on his face.

Alex grinned gave him a passionate kiss. "I guess so. I actually pulled this off with John on the way to Breckenridge back in 2000. But you've got forty pounds of solid muscle on him and I was a lot more flexible when I was 22."

"Oh, trust me. You're quite flexible," Jimmy replied with a raised eyebrow and a quick little kiss of the tip of Alex's nose. "It was all that training I did to be an agent. I probably shouldn't have gotten so obsessed with working out, but I really wanted to make Chuck, Sarah, and Casey proud."

"Believe me, you did." Alex looked lasciviously up and down Jimmy's naked form as she pulled her shirt off. "And I get to fully enjoy of all that effort."

She grabbed Jimmy and pulled him to her, kissing him with intense desire. She slid her hand down between them as Jimmy planted kisses and licks all over her soft skin. Her breathing shortened and quickened as they moved together in perfect synchronicity. She pressed her lips hard against his to muffle her screams as she reached the point of no return. She moaned in pleasure as she eagerly moved against Jimmy to bring him over the edge as well.

They held each other for several minutes while they tried to catch their breath. They gazed into each other's eyes. Alex smiled and caressed Jimmy's cheek. "OK, that was a LOT of effort."

Jimmy smiled. "But so worth it, right?"

Alex nodded. "Completely, James. But we need to scout the lavatory on the return flight before trying this again."

He laughed gently and caressed her skin, giving her a teasing kiss. "Whatever you say, boss."

They quickly put their clothes back on and carefully exited the lavatory.

_**Washington, D.C.  
>October 3, 2011<br>10:30 AM EDT**_

Bill Ganz spent several days doing research. He needed a plan to capture Roger Murdock without the resources of The Ring at his disposal. He had a few accounts in the Seychelles with which to hire some men to assist him, but his instincts told him it wouldn't be that simple. Murdock's disappearance would raise a lot of alarm bells. Beckman wouldn't hesitate to send every agent available to find him if he turned up missing. Plus, if the rumors he heard about Murdock and Alex Forrest were true, she would be a formidable opponent and a variable he couldn't predict.

Suddenly, his mind clicked. There was one way to bring both of them in, and the government would even help him do it. He checked the databases to see if Murdock's or Forrest's passports popped up anyplace. He found what he needed. He just had to set up a few things.

As he sent the emails and made a few discreet calls, he contemplated what Beckman's possible reaction would be to this. She knew what happened in that Intersect room; even more than what he knew by reading the reports from her private safe. As well as his plan worked for everybody else in the government, she was the one person who could still tear it apart. To make this work, she would have to be dealt with as well.

He hacked her private calendar and made a few notes. The timing couldn't be better.

_**The Brazen Head Pub, Dublin  
>October 6, 2011<br>9:00 PM GMT**_

Alex was starting to think a vacation was exactly what Jimmy needed. She wondered who kidnapped him and left this smiling, jovial person in his place.

They had spent the last week touring all of Ireland. They started by driving through the rural areas, enjoying the lush countryside, which hadn't yet surrendered to the cold of winter. They bought more crystal from Waterford than either of them would ever need, and she enjoyed talking to the townsfolk in the village where her grandparents grew up. She was quite impressed with the stories Jimmy made up about his childhood, as he certainly couldn't tell them how he actually grew up. He even regaled them by conversing in Gaelic, although Alex assumed that was courtesy of his Intersect. They ended most of their evenings drinking a few pints and enjoying the company of the locals. It wasn't the typical vacation the average tourist took, but Alex never considered herself the touristy type, and it was obvious Jimmy wasn't, either.

They returned to Dublin two days ago and spent their time either exploring the city or relaxing in one of the pubs. Keeping true to her word, she bought a couple of Aran sweaters to wear, and Jimmy complimented her on how beautiful she looked in them. She even purchased a driving cap for him. It was quite scary how well he blended in with the Dubliners.

Alex nursed the same shot of Jameson she had for the last hour while Jimmy settled for a Smithwick's. After a few aborted attempts at downing a Guinness, Jimmy opted to go for ale instead of a stout.

"I am liking this side of you, James," Alex shouted in his ear over the sounds of a band playing some up-tempo Irish classics.

"I'm sure you like me a lot more now that I'm not making those weird faces every time I tried to down a Guinness," Jimmy replied.

"This is true." Alex looked at the crowd for a moment, which was thoroughly enjoying the band. "You should go up there. You sang beautifully at Chuck and Sarah's wedding."

Jimmy shied away. "Come on. They don't need any help; they're doing just fine without me. The last thing they need is some obnoxious Yank trying to sing U2 songs."

"Oh, please. You have more tact than that."

Jimmy nodded. "True. I wouldn't try to massacre U2 up there. Van Morrison, on the other hand…"

Alex gave him a light smack to the back of the head. Jimmy growled.

"OK, seriously. Did Sarah give you a manual on how to deal with me or something?"

"Yes, actually," Alex replied with a bit of lilt in her voice. "You've been bothering the hell out of Chuck and her a lot longer than me."

"I'm working on it," Jimmy replied in exasperation.

"Work faster," Alex retorted in a tone that would make a Marine sergeant step back.

Jimmy looked around the bar. His jaw dropped open. "I don't believe it."

Alex looked in the same direction. A thirtysomething male who looked like he just stepped out of a fashion magazine approached them.

"Roger, good to see you!" the man said in a thick British accent as he embraced Jimmy.

"You too, Matty!" Jimmy replied, pounding the man on his back as they hugged.

"About bloody time I tracked you down. Take off to the States like that and leave me in that damn hospital! Don't even give a chap the chance to give a proper thank-you."

"Hey, that's not my fault. My boss ripped me a new one for that stunt MI-5 pulled on her."

Jimmy gestured to Alex. Matthew, this is my girlfriend, Alex Forrest. Alex, this is Matthew Cotswold. Remember when I was sent to London over Christmas? Matthew and I worked together on that mission."

"A pleasure, Alex," Matthew said as he shook Alex's hand. He then lowered his voice conspiratorially. "He's still pulling that shit, is he?"

"Pardon?"

"Worked together? Saved my ass is more like it."

Alex laughed. "Then, yes, he is still pulling that shit."

Matthew motioned for the waitress to bring another round to the table. "Don't either of you even think of buying any rounds tonight. It's all on me. I wouldn't even be alive if it wasn't for this guy."

"Oh, do tell," Alex said with a smile. "I don't get to hear a lot of stories about Roger."

Matthew eyed Alex warily and turned to Jimmy. "Is it…OK to…?"

Jimmy nodded. "She's a full-fledged member at Langley Country Club."

Matthew waited until the waitress brought the drinks for the table before telling the tale. "We get word that some ex-IRA punks were going to blow up substations around London at Christmas, so we slipped Rog into their group as an electronics expert. I don't know how he did it. The guy thinks it's Sunday church with how shy and quiet he is. His brogue needed some work, that's for sure. But he talks this ginger-haired bloke, Liam, to use these special detonators he designed connected to the C-4. Totally untraceable, Roger claimed. Or so Liam believed. But each detonator had a GPS tracker in them. Passes them out to Liam and his cohorts to blow up the transformers. Next thing you know, Scotland Yard's picking these guys up like they called a bleedin' taxi."

Alex nodded and smiled. "Sounds like something Roger would cook up. But how did he save your life?"

"Well two of these blokes, they decided they didn't really trust Roger. They tried to rewire the C-4 themselves. I find the detonator without the C-4 and go after them, but they get the drop on me. Roger, he figures out one of the GPS trackers wasn't accounted for and…you'll love this...steals a horse from one of the police stables 'cause you couldn't get a car through London to save your life that night. He comes ridin' in like he's chuffin' John Wayne, pulls my arse up, and knocks these two bastards to the ground. They get a couple of shots off before the police move in on them. I took one to the lung and one that nicked my stomach. Roger rides that horse like he's in the Grand National and gets me to the hospital."

Alex laughed heartily at the image of Jimmy on a horse. "And how many times had you ridden a horse before that?" she asked him.

"Oh, please," Jimmy replied, attempting once again to downplay his heroics. "Kick him in the ass to go, pull on the reins to stop. How hard is that?"

"Right, that does it." Matthew announced, as clearly Jimmy infuriated people on both sides of the pond with his lack of an attitude. "Every time you try to take the piss like that tonight, you have to take a drink." Jimmy shook his head in annoyance at that thought.

"Every time?" Alex asked. "He'd die of alcohol poisoning."

Matthew smiled. "Yeah, but he'll learn his lesson, won't he."

_**Merrion Hotel, Dublin  
>October 6, 2011<br>9:15 PM GMT**_

Two individuals walked through the lobby of the hotel like they were anybody else at the hotel. Nobody gave them a second thought. Once they entered the elevator, however, they shed their clothes and changed into all-black attire and put black face masks on. They made their way down the hall on the top floor and inserted a computerized keycard for the door lock to the Specialty Suite at the hotel. They entered the room and located the laptop computer they needed. One of the intruders loaded a file onto the laptop while the other collected some items from around the suite. They wanted to make sure they wasted no time, as their night was just beginning.

_**Unknown Location  
>October 11, 2011<br>9:45 AM**_

Alex awoke in considerable pain. She reached for her right side where the guard had nailed her with the baton. Her entire body hurt every time she tried to take a breath. She could feel leg irons around her ankles, and her right hand was handcuffed to what looked like a hospital bed.

"Agent Forrest, I do apologize," a voice called out. "I'm afraid that one guard acted quite unprofessionally. Rest assured, she has been dealt with appropriately."

In spite of the pain, Alex raised her head to look at the person talking to her. It was the same tall man who had listened in on her interrogation yesterday. It still did not help her figure out what was going on.

"However, I only think it's fair to warn you that I can't stop every single guard in here from taking a shot at you. All of them are convinced you committed treason. And you manipulated Agent Murdock into helping you."

"What?" Alex was barely registering what the man was saying. "I didn't commit any…"

"I think, for your own benefit, you had better come clean about what you know regarding Agent Murdock. How long you two have been planning this?"

Alex remained quiet. The tall man held up a folder. "Special instructions on how to handle him. Comes straight from the top. The psychotropic drugs we've given him have kept him at bay, but I wouldn't recommend you hold out too long."

The man picked up a remote and turned on a monitor. Alex stared in horror as Jimmy staggered around his cell, occasionally pounding the plexiglass like an animal attempting to escape his cage. It was obvious Jimmy didn't know where he was or what he was doing.

"They're giving me ten thousand watts a day, you know," Jimmy shouted to nobody in particular. "And I'm hot to trot! Next woman takes me on's gonna light up like a pinball machine!"

The tall man turned off the monitor. "Just to warn you now, Agent Forrest. Murdock's only going to get worse unless you start cooperating."

The man exited the room, leaving Alex to lie there in shock.

_**The Brazen Head Pub, Dublin  
>October 6, 2011<br>10:15 PM GMT**_

"You should have seen this lady. Takes out the whole damn Ring facility and at least a dozen guards single-handedly. Yeah, you think I'll ever forget her birthday?"

"Can't blame ya, Rog. This lady sounds like hell on wheels. A very lovely hell, though."

"That she is, Matty."

Alex, Jimmy, and Matthew enjoyed another round of drinks as the three agents swapped stories about being in the trenches for their respective countries. Alex was feeling particularly giddy, as it was the most fun she had in over ten years. Jimmy was glad the conversation finally turned away from him. In spite of everything that happened over the past year, he still preferred to stay out of the spotlight.

Unfortunately, he wasn't going to get that chance tonight.

"Folks, I'm terribly sorry, but our guitar player had a wee bit of an accident in the loo…" the crowed laughed heartily, "…no, not that kind. He slipped and sprained his wrist. I'm afraid we'll have to cut our session short tonight."

With the crowd well into their fourth and fifth rounds of the evening, the band's announcement was met with a chorus of boos.

"Ah, bad luck," Matthew said. "Just when the night was getting started..."

Alex's eyes lit up. She stood and got the band's attention. "I know a great guitarist. Give him any song, and he'll play it," she shouted while pointing at Jimmy.

"What are you doing?" Jimmy hissed.

"Trust me, he's amazing. He plays all the pubs in the States! Boston, New York, Chicago, L.A…" Alex continued as she tried to encourage the crowd. A smattering of applause began to pick up.

Jimmy pulled her back to her chair. "I'm not going up there," he whispered crossly.

"Come on, you know you can do this," Alex replied with a cognizant glance. "You don't want this crowd to get out of control, do you?"

Jimmy looked around at the crowd. The applause had picked up, and several people were shouting for him to go up to the stage. It would have been difficult to calm the crowd now if he backed out. He quietly groaned and walked up to the stage with slumped shoulders. _She is so going to pay for this_, he thought.

Jimmy reached the stage and took the guitar from the injured band member. He looked at it for a moment before his Intersect kicked in. Alex was right: instructions on every chord ever played flooded his mind.

"OK, here we go. I think you know this one," he told the crowd. He played the opening chords, and the rest of the band picked up the song immediately. The crowd applauded.

_I wish I was a fisherman  
><em>_Tumblin' on the seas  
><em>_Far away from dry land  
><em>_And its bitter memories  
><em>_Casting out my sweet line  
><em>_With abandonment and love  
><em>_No ceiling bearin' down on me  
><em>'_Cept the starry sky above  
><em>_With light in my head  
><em>_You in my arms  
><em>_Woohoo!_

Alex beamed as Jimmy relaxed and began to enjoy playing with the band. The crowd cheered them on, and Alex and Matthew cheered as loudly as anybody in the pub.

_There's hope for him yet_, she thought with a smile.

_**Nicholas Street, Dublin  
>October 6, 2011<br>11:45 PM GMT**_

Matthew Cotswold bid Alex and Roger good night and promised to contact them in the morning. He planned to meet them for breakfast. He felt a bit guilty about asking them for help. They were on vacation, and he already owed Roger for saving his life last Christmas. But his new assignment had a lot of information that was still up in the air, and perhaps they knew a few things in a CIA file somewhere he didn't. Missions with so many unknowns were not unusual, but that never made them any easier.

He walked past St. Patrick's Cathedral. He remembered stories his mother used to tell him about attending mass services in this church as a child, and Matthew always admired the beautiful stained-glass windows everywhere in it.

Unfortunately, he forgot the first rule about being a spy…be in tune with your surroundings…at the worst possible moment.

A figure came out from the shadows he never saw. Matthew reacted too late as the figure pulled garrote wire across his neck. He struggled to breathe as a second person helped pull him out from under the glow of the lone streetlight. Matthew flailed his arms to try to get at either of his attackers, but it was to no avail. He stopped breathing.

The second attacker placed a flash drive in the coat pocket of the still body of the British agent. The first attacker opened a plastic bag and sprinkled its contents near the head and neck of Agent Cotswold. The two disappeared then into the darkness.

_**Merrion Hotel, Dublin  
>October 7, 2011<br>8:30 AM GMT**_

Alex woke up with the room still spinning a bit. It had been years since she drank so much alcohol. The CIA had medications available for agents to take to prevent them from getting inebriated on the job should their mission require heavy amounts of drinking, which occurred far more than the average agent preferred. Staying sober was easy. Unfortunately, the pills didn't prevent the hangover the next day.

Jimmy came to the bed with two cups of coffee and handed one to Alex.

"Mmm, you're an angel," Alex slurred as she sipped from her coffee. "I really need to learn to pace myself."

"Yeah, that way I don't end up doing two shows a night at the Tropicana," Jimmy replied with a tinge of annoyance.

"Oh, don't even try that. I saw you up there last night. I wasn't so sloshed I didn't see you had a good time. The crowd loved it."

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say that wasn't what Beckman had in mind when she wanted there to be a new Intersect."

"Hey, we're on vacation, remember? We're not allowed to do any work right now?" Alex smiled and gave Jimmy a kiss. "So why not enjoy…James, are you OK?"

Jimmy was having trouble sitting upright. "I don't know, something doesn't feel…"

His eyes glazed over and he fell to the floor unconscious. Alex stared at her coffee cup for a moment before becoming dizzy herself. The coffee cup fell from her hand as she collapsed onto the bed.


	3. It's Crazy to Stay Sane

_Hello. Just wanted to add the latest chapter to this story. It's interesting how writing works. You hear about writers' block and how some writers will go weeks without writing a single sentence, only to come up with a flood of ideas in the span of a few minutes. That more or less has been how it worked for me. I have trouble getting a chapter started or have difficulty trying to come up with a pathway for a story, and then an idea comes to mind that makes everything click. Interestingly enough, the character of Alex Forrest was the biggest one in all of my writing. I originally didn't think of including her in a story, but I needed someone for Jimmy Slade to end up with at the end of "vs. the 42-Year-Old Virgin," and I didn't want to create another original character. I went through the list of female characters on Chuck (obviously Sarah and Ellie weren't considered), and suddenly Alex's name sprang into my head. Before I knew it, the entire story had been written. Not to mention, I never expected people to request I do a story featuring Jimmy and Alex as the main characters. And as you can tell, now I'm on my third story._

_Special thanks once again to BDaddyDL for being a sounding board on a couple of these sections._

_Enjoy the chapter, and please leave a review! I'm heading home to Chicago this weekend, and I hope to come back on Monday to a lot of hits on the chapter and a lot of reviews._

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><p><em><strong>Washington, D.C.<br>October 11, 2011  
>3:30 PM EDT<strong>_

Bill Ganz looked over his notes and the itinerary he set up to make his plan work. He made the decision early on not to interrogate Roger Murdock, as Roger had a reputation as being something of a hard-ass when it came to the job. With the record of success Murdock had over the last year, Ganz figured he wasn't one to crack. He took the precaution of having Murdock kept under heavy sedation with a specialized mix of psychotropic drugs in case the reports out of California from two weeks ago were really true. It was hard to believe one agent did everything those reports said, but Ganz wasn't going to risk it. He didn't want Murdock to even know what year it was, much less where he was or why. If Murdock really was this new Intersect, it was information he could get from Alex Forrest. Then it would simply be a matter of keeping Murdock until Ganz could find the right person to make an offer. However, Alex Forrest had an even greater reputation as a hard-ass. No less than two dozen intelligence agencies around the world would give almost anything to have her working for them…to say nothing about how many private groups could find many valuable uses for the ice-cold spy.

Ganz looked over her file. Forrest had made quite a few nemeses within the CIA over the years, mostly during the time she evaluated agents. In the last year, however, her focus had returned to the field. Between her successes in New York, San Diego, and her significant contributions in taking down The Ring, the number of people who resented her, if not outright hated her, had dwindled to almost nothing.

He inserted another flash drive into his laptop. He went through the files Dana Browning kept on her personal computer at home from the time she worked for The Ring. When word came down about her death, Ganz had to act quickly to secure those files. It would have been unwise to allow the CIA to get their hands on the information about The Ring Dana possessed. He frowned when he saw a video file in a separate folder from where Ring protocol dictated their agents kept files. He opened the file and viewed the video.

_Son of a bitch. There's the link, _he thought.

Ganz knew Dana was feeding Mr. Diaz, the man The Ring hired to capture the Intersect, data from the DNI to assist him. But the video he saw was a file she created on her own. And it answered his most pressing question.

It made total sense for Roger Murdock to be the new Intersect, since he was an Intersect when his name was Jimmy Slade.

Ganz reran the video showing the old image of Jimmy Slade, the man everyone thought was killed while taking out The Ring's Los Angeles base, morphing into the agent the CIA knew today as Roger Murdock. Slade went from being a grossly overweight asset to an effective agent. Ganz actually felt a bit of admiration for Slade to have made that transformation. It certainly took a lot of guts to work for the agency that ruined your life in the first place.

Ganz shook his head and exhaled. He couldn't believe his luck. He had the new Intersect on ice, and he was the only one who knew about it. Everybody else in that facility thought they had a traitor in that cell awaiting elimination for killing that British agent.

All that remained was to eliminate anybody who knew otherwise. Right now, only two people did. One was accused of orchestrating the murder. The other one would be flying to New York in a few days to meet her counterparts in British Intelligence and the DGSE in France. Eliminating Alex Forrest was intricate but not impossible. Ganz had to put the screws to her. Facing charges of treason, combined with involving her brother and his family, might be enough. Taking care of General Beckman would rely on a well-timed capture.

Ganz made a few phone calls. He needed someone to soften Forrest up before he returned to question her tomorrow. Unfortunately, the last person who did that almost broke Forrest's ribs and raise suspicions. That person was going to have brake problems with her car at the worst possible moment. Hopefully, this new person would be more subtle.

_**Unknown Location  
>October 11, 2011<br>10:00 PM**_

Alex was kept in the infirmary for the remainder of the day. She returned to her cell a few minutes ago. She was not interrogated by anyone else. The tall man who showed her the footage of Jimmy had not returned, but his words had been on her mind for the past twelve hours. He wanted information from her, and he wasn't above killing the man she loved to get it.

Becoming a human being again was not all it was cracked up to be.

She was having difficulty keeping her emotions in check. She knew she couldn't give up any information to this person. Something was very wrong. There was no way in hell Jimmy or she did anything to betray the country. They were being set up, but by whom? Whoever was doing this must have been conning the people in this facility into helping them. The people here were convinced she was a traitor who somehow manipulated Jimmy into committing a heinous crime. To make matters worse, they had kept Jimmy under control using drugs that could kill him, if this man was to be believed. Judging by what little she saw of Jimmy in his cell, she had to believe the man could kill Jimmy if he wanted.

Alex was starting to panic, but she knew she couldn't do that. She trusted her instincts and those instincts were telling her there was a lot more going on. She had to stall long enough to figure out a way to escape.

The door to her cell opened. A guard she hadn't seen before appeared with a tray of food, which she inelegantly dropped on the table next to the cot. The guard grabbed Alex, who was still too weak to put up much of a fight. Alex found herself handcuffed to the sink inside the cell.

The guard looked her up and down contemptuously as she took out what appeared to be a long sock. She dropped something inside of the sock and started twirling the weighted sock in the air.

"Here's a little something from my co-workers," the guard said as she whipped the sock at Alex's stomach. The weight inside the sock connected, and Alex doubled-over from having the wind knocked out of her.

"The last guard was sloppy; she left too many marks. A mistake I won't make," she sneered as she whipped the sock around and connected with the side of Alex's head. Alex staggered to the side from the impact. She was dazed and weakly lunged at the guard to no avail. She fell to her knees and coughed profusely.

"Cry all you want to my superiors," the guard boasted. "Won't do you any good. I got the kid monitoring the surveillance to turn off the cameras for a few minutes. Didn't take much, really. Lonely guy, not a lot of friends. Gave him a little…stress relief, so to speak. Nothing that you haven't done a hundred times on the job yourself."

The guard grabbed Alex and pulled her up again. She took the sock in both hands and whipped it around as fast as she could.

"I'll be back again tomorrow. And the next night, and the next. And this…"

The guard swung the sock like a golf club. The weight inside the sock hit Alex in the solar plexus. She collapsed to the ground again and struggled to breathe.

"…will only get worse," the guard concluded with a look of disdain at the prone Alex.

She removed the handcuffs and walked casually out of Alex's cell. Alex collapsed in a heap on the floor, her breathing shallow and raspy.

_**Washington, D.C.  
>October 12, 2011<br>11:30 AM EDT**_

Patience was something the Director of National Intelligence learned on this job. The President's advisors were taking their time deciding what was to be done about Jimmy Slade. Given the turmoil going on across the world, combined with a worse-than-normal hurricane season at home, whether Jimmy Slade went back to work or received a bullet to the back of his head was not exactly on the front burner at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Beckman had several meetings with the President's Chief of Staff over the last two weeks, none of which were particularly pleasant. Despite every report the man read about what the two human Intersects had done, he was not at all impressed. The Chief of Staff, however, had an advantage: he didn't know who Jimmy Slade was and didn't want to know. Slade was just another piece of intelligence property as far as he was concerned, to be used and discarded on a whim.

Given what she had experienced regarding the Intersect project over the last four years, Beckman had a much different perspective.

Beckman knew lightning had struck twice regarding the Intersect. When the information Bryce Larkin stole made its way into the brain of Chuck Bartowski, the entire government saw a disaster waiting to happen. They wanted to eliminate the project…along with the electronics store nerd who became a part of it. But Bartowski beat all odds and helped Agent Sarah Walker and Colonel John Casey form the most successful team in the intelligence community. Despite all of the obstacles thrown up…Zarnow, Fulcrum, Mr. Colt, Ted Roark, Casey's dismissal and rehiring, Shaw's betrayal, Walker and Bartowski falling in love, The Ring's all-out assault on the team…the project was an unqualified success.

When Chuck discovered Jimmy Slade teaching that computer class two years ago, the full history of the Intersect project came to light. A history that dated back to when Beckman was still a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed blonde in the Air Force. Slade was just a pawn in all of this, treated by the government as poorly as he was treated by everybody else in his life. But there was something about him, something it took Bartowski, Walker, and Casey to bring out of the emotionally-damaged asset. The results were impressive. Slade became one of the agency's top operatives in less than a year. And despite being kept in the dark by Orion about what was in the new Intersect, Beckman couldn't deny she had one of the best spies in the world working for her.

And anybody who could turn the ice-cold Alex Forrest into a giddy schoolgirl was someone who commanded attention.

Agents dating and falling in love wasn't exactly discouraged by the CIA, as it was far easier for an agent to date someone who understood what they did as opposed to a civilian they would have to lie to on a daily basis. Although there were no guarantees, she didn't expect the same relationship drama with her new Intersect as she had with her previous one. Forrest had been in love once, so it wasn't hard to imagine her falling for the right person. And Slade was so clueless about relationships, it was unlikely he'd ever do anything to sabotage the only one he had ever been in. If those two wanted to keep seeing each other, Beckman could probably work that to Langley's advantage.

Beckman's computer beeped, reminding her of the meeting to prepare for her trip to New York. She was to meet with the new head of France's DGSE and her counterpart at MI-6 in New York. She decided to go a couple of days early. She hadn't been to New York in two years, apart from some quick meetings with the regional manager of Homeland Security. She wanted to get in some shopping before the real work began.

_**Unknown Location  
>October 12, 2011<br>10:00 AM**_

Alex found herself in the same room where her interrogations took place over the past two days. The beating she took last night was still fresh in her mind, even if she didn't have the marks to prove it. Although it was pointless to report the guard's assault without any evidence, the fact the guard knew how to injure Alex like that was telling in and of itself. Of the hundreds of methods agents were taught to injure someone…or even kill them, a number of them would not leave any telltale signs. The guard employed one of those methods on her. It was possible the guard could have picked that up from somewhere, but that felt like too much of a coincidence. This guard wasn't some high school dropout making a lousy salary to babysit a bunch of prisoners; she was a hired gun. And if the tall man Alex saw in the infirmary yesterday was the one to bring this hired gun in, then this could very well have been a setup. She needed proof, but there was only one way to get it. She could only hope that same tall man would show up.

For the first time since she woke up in her cell three days ago, luck was on her side. The tall man entered the room.

"Hello again, Agent Forrest," the man said as he placed a folder and a tablet computer on the table where Alex sat. "Let's continue our little talk from yesterday, shall we?"

He stopped the person who had been interrogating Alex for the past two days from entering the room. "We are not to be disturbed," he ordered.

"Yes, Mr. Ganz," the man replied with an irate expression as he closed the door. Clearly he was not happy to be overruled in his job.

Ganz walked to the two security cameras in the room and unplugged their network feeds. He then pushed them away so they were not aimed at the table. "I think we need a little privacy," he said in a neutral voice as he returned to the table and sat down on the opposite side from Alex.

"You're in quite a bit of trouble, Agent Forrest. I'm sure you've deduced that by now. But it can all go away. I just need some information."

"What about?" Alex replied in an equally-neutral tone in order to not give away anything she knew or suspected.

"How long have you worked with Agent Murdock?"

"Long enough," Alex replied with a bit of disdain.

"On how many mission have you teamed up?"

"More than one, less than a million."

"Would you consider him a friend?"

"We don't have friends in this business, or did you forget whom you work for?"

A small amount of frustration was beginning to show on Ganz's face. Most people may not have noticed it, but Alex's training showed her the telltale signs.

"So you have no relationship with Roger Murdock outside of work?"

Alex shrugged. "I screwed him a few times. Why? Need to know how good he is in bed?"

"Hardly," Ganz replied as his frustration began to rise.

"You sure?" Alex went on the offensive. "You look like you haven't gotten any in years. You find Murdock hot? Want to know how big his package is? He does this thing with his tongue that is so…"

"Enough," Ganz blurted out as he slammed his fist on the table, but Alex wouldn't let up.

"I'm just saying, ordinarily he's straight, but maybe he'll play nice if you ask him. I mean, if you don't mind being his little bitch, because I seriously doubt you could be…"

Ganz lost his composure and shoved the table aside to get to Alex. He picked her up by the neck and slammed her against the opposite wall. His face was inches from hers, and he was breathing fire.

"If you want your boyfriend Slade to survive another day, I better get some cooperation from you right now!"

Unlike Ganz, Alex kept her cool, even though she wanted to jump up and down for joy. _Got him_, she thought in triumph. Only two people in the entire government knew Roger Murdock was really Jimmy Slade: Beckman and her. Only a small handful of civilians knew about Jimmy, and Alex knew every single one of them. Anybody else using Slade's name had to be part of The Ring.

She fixed him with a hardened gaze she hadn't felt since her first days in the CIA nine years ago, back when all she wanted was revenge. "Are you going to beat me up, too? Just like that bitch you sent to my cell last night?"

Slowly, Ganz regained control of himself and let Alex go. He casually walked to the table and moved it back as if nothing happened. He arranged the two chairs in their original positions and sat in his. Alex slowly walked back and sat in the other chair.

"Like I said, you're in a lot of trouble, Agent Forrest." Ganz took the tablet computer and opened a set of photos. He turned the tablet to face Alex and swiped through the pictures.

"Recognize him?"

"Nope," Alex replied.

"Matthew Cotswold, an agent for MI-5. He was found dead outside of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin. You and Murdock were the last people to talk to him."

Alex bristled slightly at discovering Jimmy's friend had been murdered, but she already knew where Ganz was going with this.

"We found a flash drive in his coat. Would you like to know what was on it?"

"I imagine you know, since I'm sure you had the flash drive planted on him."

Ganz nodded and smiled. "Slept with a few Special Forces guys in your life, huh? Admit nothing, deny everything, and make counter-accusations. I learned that my first few days on the job, too. However, a few hair follicles found on Cotswold's body belonging to Agent Murdock is pretty damning, wouldn't you say?"

"I'd say you're planting more false evidence. The Roger Murdock everybody knows isn't a cold-blooded killer. He won't even watch _CSI_. Although he does do a very funny David Caruso imitation. Even uses the same sunglasses."

"You're right. Ordinarily I'd say Roger Murdock wouldn't kill in cold blood. Unless he was doing it for the woman who's been sleeping with him for at least a year. Especially if it's to keep her from being hanged for attempting to pass top secret files to a courier with ties to the Taliban. Poor Agent Cotswold found out and copied the files from your laptop. A shame, really. He was moving up the ranks in British Intelligence."

Alex glared at Ganz. An innocent man was murdered just to get to Jimmy and her? Somehow, she managed to keep her cool. She was grateful she found some of that cold-heartedness she used to carry around for almost a decade. It was a big help to her, since all she wanted to do was cut Ganz's throat for everything he did.

"There are plenty of people in the Agency who would never believe the bullshit you're spewing out. Why not just drop the act?"

Ganz smiled. "What act? I'm following through on actionable intelligence I received regarding the murder of a British agent related to a conspiracy organized by a mole inside the CIA. I'm doing my job."

Ganz took his tablet computer and called up a program. "But clearly you need to be reminded again of what's at stake."

He turned the tablet back to Alex. She saw surveillance footage of Jimmy's cell. His eyes were bloodshot, he was unshaven, and Alex could see clumps of hair around his neck and shoulders, as if Jimmy pulled it out. He walked back and forth, stopping occasionally to ram his head against the walls of his cell.

"Should I turn up the sound?" Ganz said sounding like a man confident he had the upper hand again. He turned up the volume on the tablet computer.

"Danny, I'm coming!" the crazed Jimmy said as he bashed his head into the wall again. He walked down to the other end of his cell. "Get out of my way, son. You're usin' my oxygen."

Under the table, Alex's fists were clenched so tightly, her fingernails were drawing blood. However, she kept her outward appearance unchanged.

Ganz smirked. "Never realized he liked Jack Nicholson so much. I gotta admire his taste. Might have to have someone tell him he's mixing his movies, though."

Ganz straightened in his chair and opened another file on his tablet computer. "So, Agent Forrest. Are you ready to talk, or does Roger's life not mean a thing to you?"

Alex scoffed. "You're not going to kill him. Or me. You need something; otherwise we'd be dead already. So don't even bother."

Ganz's eyes showed a brief flash of anger that quickly faded. He turned the tablet computer back towards Forrest. Her mouth dropped open in shock.

The tablet showed a video of Alex's brother, Michael III, and his family enjoying the day in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

"This was taken a couple of weekends ago. I must say, Mikey and Danielle look like they've created All-American family, haven't they? I hear Ashley's doing pretty well in second grade so far. And Beverly…I feel for the little girl. Pre-school can be very intimidating. I know it was for me."

Alex couldn't stop herself from shaking in fear as Ganz continued. "You know, terrible tragedies happen all the time in the country. Auto accidents, robberies gone bad, that sort of thing. It'd be a shame if anything happened to them. They look so happy together living the American dream."

Ganz stood and knocked at the door. The door opened, and Ganz motioned for two guards to enter. He turned back to Alex. "I have a few things to take care of. I'm just gonna let you…think about things. Let you ponder your choices. Don't take too much time."

The guards pulled Alex from her chair. She was too shocked to put up any sort of resistance. They led her past Jimmy's cell on the way to hers. Jimmy was still pacing around inside with no concept of where he was. Alex glanced around at Jimmy's cell and took note of an air vent that wasn't in her cell. _They're gassing him_, she concluded in her mind. _That's why he's acting that way._

"I want that television set turned on RIGHT NOW!" Jimmy screamed as he threw his fist at the plexiglass. Alex jumped back in shock as the guards pulled her quickly down the hall.

Alex was pushed into her cell and heard the hard steel door slam behind her. She took a few timid steps forward before slumping down on the cot. She buried her face in her hands as her emotions overwhelmed her. This son of a bitch was trying to take away everything she had. Everything she worked hard over the last year to regain after almost a decade of isolation. She couldn't go back to that. She wasn't going to let it happen.

Her tears quickly subsided and she wiped her face dry. She took a look around her cell. She needed to formulate a plan.

She didn't know where her plan would take her, but she had an idea on how to get it started. In fact, she would enjoy it.

_**Washington, D.C.  
>October 12, 2011<br>5:30 PM EDT**_

Bill Ganz hacked into Beckman's computer once again to get her flight information. She was to land at a private strip in New Jersey early tomorrow morning. From there, it was a helicopter ride over the Hudson to the Wall Street Heliport and to her hotel. Although that left only one place to snatch her, during the transfer from the heliport to the limousine, the small detail that traveled with her, and assistant and two bodyguards, wouldn't be much of a problem. He got on the phone and called in a couple of favors.

So far, everything was going according to plan. He regretted losing his temper with Forrest, but he was confident he played the proper trump card against her. She took three months off earlier this year to deal with family issues…at least that's what the rumors were. He never would have believed Alex Forrest would ever care about another human life, given her reputation around Langley for the better part of the 2000s. But anybody who worked in the business long enough knew things could turn on a dime. Your enemy one day was your ally the next…and back to your enemy the day after that. And Forrest's reaction when he threatened her family made Ganz believe she wasn't quite the unfeeling bitch she used to be.

It made his job that much easier.

_**Unknown Location  
>October 12, 2011<br>9:00 PM**_

A guard strolled down the corridors of the detention facility with as much of a smile on her face as a guard would display on duty. She was hired to do a job. She just didn't realize she would enjoy it so much.

The guard heard of the reputation of Alex Forrest, and she was actually a bit surprised Forrest hadn't put up more of a fight when they met the prior night. Forrest didn't seem that tough. She promised Forrest she would be back. It was time to keep that promise.

Once again, she 'convinced' the security guard monitoring surveillance to turn the cameras off in the section. She sauntered up to Forrest's cell and opened the door. She walked inside to see Forrest sound asleep on her cot facing the wall. The guard took out her handcuffs and approached the cot. She grabbed Alex's wrist and was about to put the handcuff on when she glanced to her right and stopped in shock.

The towel bar attached to the sink had been wrenched off.

The guard turned back in time to see a metal bar come crashing across her face. The guard fell back as Alex leaped off of her cot. She gave the guard another hard smash across the face with the towel bar, sending the guard staggering. She tried to reach for her taser, but Alex lunged at her baton, grabbing it and smashing it into the guard's stomach. She doubled-over trying to take in a breath. Alex brought the baton down and nailed the guard in the back of her head. She collapsed to the ground and stopped moving.

Alex quickly pulled the guard to the middle of the cell. She stripped off her orange jumpsuit and removed the guard's uniform. She put her jumpsuit on the guard and put the guard's uniform on. She then dragged the guard onto her cot, facing her towards the wall and covering her with the blanket. She took out the hairpins holding the guard's hair up and straightened her hair out so to the unobservant it looked like Alex was still sleeping on the cot. Alex tucked her hair up under the guard's hat and walked carefully into the hallway. She could see surveillance cameras at either end of the hall. However, they weren't sweeping back and forth as they should.

She walked down the hall, taking great care not to look up and be recognized by any of the cameras. She turned the corner and saw the security office for the facility. She pulled out the guard's taser and kept it behind her back as she approached the young guard who turned off the cameras, keeping her hat pulled down to make him think she was the real guard.

He turned in his chair and stood up. "Are you done in there?"

Alex brought her arm up and fired the taser, nailing the man in the arm. He fell into the chair unconscious.

Alex turned him around to face the monitors in order to fool anybody who might come in.

"You need to acquire better taste in women," Alex said condescendingly to the unconscious guard as she studied the floor plan of the facility. She had the ID of the guard, so walking out wouldn't be a problem, but she needed a car to get far away from here. She found the locker room where the guards kept their personal belongings. If she was right, she should be able to find some car keys.

Alex walked down the hallway to the women's locker room. She took one of the hairpins the guard had and picked the padlocks on three of the lockers. She checked the car keys in each. The first two guards had newer-model cars that likely had GPS systems built in, but the third locker had the keys to an older-model Chevy she hoped couldn't be easily traced. She pocketed the keys and $20 from the wallet inside one of the lockers and headed for the exit.

She took a quick look around the employees' parking lot. It didn't take much deductive reasoning to think she had the keys to the beat-up '98 Chevy Blazer haphazardly parked by the exit. She got in the car and drove down the road to the guard shack. She showed the guard's ID to the men at the gate, keeping her fingers covering the picture and her hat pulled down. They opened the gate and let her through. She turned onto a two-lane highway and started looking for road signs. One pointed her to Interstate 68. She got on the interstate and headed east. Twenty-five miles later, she was in Maryland.

_Brandonville, West Virginia_, she thought.

The CIA had a series of holding facilities throughout the country to house some of the most dangerous individuals in the world. Most of these facilities made Guantanamo Bay look like a Club Fed. Ganz probably picked Brandonville because of it's proximity to Washington D.C. It also confirmed what Alex suspected: Ganz set up the murder of Cotswold to get the Agency to treat Jimmy and her as captured prisoners. With The Ring dismantled, Ganz's options for getting help were slim. It was far easier to fake a CIA operation and get all the help he needed.

Alex turned the radio to a news channel she could find and kept monitoring the guard's radio to see if anybody had discovered her missing. If they followed CIA protocol, they would keep a tight lid on things. One could imagine the panic that would set in if a terrorist escaped one of these facilities and they tried to orchestrate an all-out manhunt. She hoped there was enough time. However, she decided to play it safe and change vehicles and clothes so as not to arouse suspicions.

She saw a sign for a truck stop a few miles ahead. She was exhausted and starving. She knew she had to keep moving, but the truck stop was as good of a place as any to change clothes. She exited the interstate and parked the Blazer in the far corner of the large parking lot, away from any lights. She exited the SUV and took off her guard's shirt, using it to wipe away any fingerprints. She put the safety on the taser and hid it inside her pant leg. She tossed guard's holster and the keys to the SUV into the wildgrass and walked casually to the diner.

She walked into the convenience store at the truck stop and blended in near a line of truckers trying to pay for their fuel and get their paperwork stamped. She glanced around for security cameras and then carefully palmed a plain gray t-shirt from one of the shelves. She ducked into the bathroom and slipped it on, taking a moment to splash some water on her face. Alex looked like absolute hell. She was still in pain from the beatings she took while in the holding facility. But the helplessness she felt for the past several days was gone. She was determined to take this bastard down and rescue Jimmy.

Alex exited the restroom and headed for the small diner at the truck stop. She looked around at the two dozen patrons, mainly truck drivers and travelers stopping for a quick bite to eat. She found a viable target: a woman who was loaded down with two crying children and far too trusting of her fellow travelers to leave her purse on the floor by her booth. She felt a bit guilty of robbing her; something she wouldn't have given a second thought a year ago. But Alex didn't have much of a choice.

Alex walked down the aisle towards the woman as if she wasn't paying attention to where she was going. She 'accidentally' kicked the purse, spilling the wallet inside onto the floor.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Alex told the harried woman as she bent down to get the purse. She slipped a credit card out of the purse and palmed it as she put the wallet back in the purse and handed it to the woman. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Not a problem," the woman tiredly said as she tried to organize herself and keep her kids from running all over the place.

"I totally feel for you, having to travel with kids," Alex said to sell the con. "I took my brother's kids to Disneyland once. It was like pulling teeth, I swear."

"And we have another two hours of driving tonight before we hit the hotel."

"Ouch! Well, good luck with that. Hope you get some sleep tonight," Alex said as she departed.

Alex walked over to the counter where they were selling bus tickets. She checked the boards and found what she needed.

"A one-way ticket to Philadelphia, please," she told the clerk, who dutifully printed the ticket. Alex handed him the credit card she just lifted. She took a quick glance at the signature on the back of the card and signed the credit slip. She took great care not to admire her work too closely, but she was one of the best in the CIA when it came to forging signatures. Had she decided to turn to a life of crime, she could make herself very rich.

She took the credit card and bus ticket and thanked the clerk. She exited the truck stop and threw the credit card right near the garbage can. This time, she didn't wipe her fingerprints; she wanted anybody following her to think she stole the card. She was attempting to send any search party in the wrong direction. She wanted people to think her first instinct was to go to Philadelphia and warn her brother and his family. She had other plans.

She found another older-model car. She picked the lock and managed to jump start it. She continued towards her planned destination. She was worried to death about Jimmy, but she also knew she needed to prove her innocence to get the CIA off her back. Ganz could take her laptop to Beckman and try to sell the story. She needed to find the laptop and figure out how to prove the incriminating files were planted on it by Ganz. She also needed help in rescuing Jimmy from the CIA holding facility.

She hoped the house she pulled up to ninety minutes later would solve both problems.

Alex slowly walked up to the door. She was almost ready to collapse from exhaustion, and the energy bar she bought at the truck stop wasn't as effective at quelling her hunger as she hoped. She knocked on the door. When Alex saw the person who answered the door, she couldn't help but feel a sense of profound relief. A few tears even came to her eyes.

"I need your help."


	4. 99 Percent Retired

_Hello again. Adding another chapter to the story. And I'm up very late __again, __writing prolifically as I tend to do with these chapters. I don't know why it happens, but I'm sure there are authors out there who can sympathize. 2/3 of this chapter was written within the last five hours. I just hope it still makes sense._

_Again, big thanks to BDaddyDL for giving me his opinions on some of my writing. I was trying to put a little something fun into the chapter, and I hope I succeeded. _

_There's one chapter to go after this. As always, please leave reviews. Thanks!_

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><p><em><strong>Brandonville, West Virginia<br>October 12, 2011  
>10:30 PM EDT<strong>_

Jimmy Slade spent most of the time in his cell pacing back and forth, shouting at people who didn't exist, and unknowingly inflicting bodily harm upon himself. However, after several days of being exposed to the psychotropic drugs being pumped into his cell, his condition started worsening. Of course, Ganz didn't have any issues with killing him, as he was simply a bargaining chip to be used and disposed if needed. Nobody in the facility questioned Ganz's orders, as they were led to believe Jimmy brutally murdered a British agent.

Through the night, Jimmy's behavior became less and less manic, and his constant pacing around his cell slowed down. He still had no idea where he was, but his mind was beginning to be overtaken by the gas. If he could have been cognizant of it, he would have felt light-headed and the room would have been spinning around. His legs finally gave way, and he collapsed to the ground in the middle of his cell.

_**Vienna, Virginia  
>October 13, 2011<br>12:15 AM EDT**_

"I need your help."

Alex Forrest stood in the doorway of the well-to-do house. It wasn't particularly showy compared to other houses in the very affluent D.C. suburb, but it was certainly warm and welcoming to her eyes. And the person who answered the door made it even more so, as the people who occupied the house were the only people Alex Forrest could trust right now.

"Alex, what happened to you?" Sarah Bartowski asked with a bit of astonishment as she held the door open to allow Alex to enter. She gave Alex a hug as she walked inside. Alex gripped Sarah tightly as the stress of the last several days got to her.

"It'll…it'll take time to explain, but I need your help. James has been captured and they're planning on killing him."

Sarah's voice shot up five levels of alarm. "What? What is going on?"

Sarah led Alex to the couch in the spacious living room. Spacious might have been a generous definition, as Chuck and Sarah were still waiting on the majority of their furniture to be delivered. They returned from their honeymoon in Paris and Rome a week ago, and they had only occupied this house for four days. Alex knew where the house was because Chuck and Sarah asked for her opinion when they had narrowed their search for a house in the Washington, D.C. area to five potential candidates. Sarah liked its proximity to both her job at George Mason University and Chuck's new job at the CIA. Unfortunately, Chuck deferred far too much to her judgment when it came to selecting furniture. Sarah spent the little free time she had since being here shopping at a dozen different stores to try and get the place furnished.

Alex breathed in and out a few times to collect herself. "James and I were sent on a forced vacation by Beckman while they figured out what to do with the new Intersect. While we were in Dublin, we ran into an old friend of James'; the agent he saved in London last Christmas. But it was a setup. The agent was murdered, and James and I were framed for it."

Sarah sat back on the couch trying to process everything Alex told her. "My God. Who would have done this?"

Alex shrugged. "I don't know. I've never met the man. But I know he's not legitimate. He sent someone to my cell to assault me and to force me to give up information, and he knew who James was by name. The only people who would know his actual name, besides you and Chuck's family…"

"…would be someone who was working for The Ring," Sarah concluded. "Why would this guy make a move now with The Ring gone?"

"I don't know. But there's always someone else out there wanting to fill the power void. Perhaps this man wanted to get in the good graces of whoever that would be."

"Capturing Jimmy would be quite a feather in this guy's cap. Anything to deal a blow to the government," a voice said from the hallway. Both Sarah and Alex turned to see Chuck standing there.

Alex managed a tired smile. Underestimating Chuck two years ago was one of the biggest mistakes she ever made. Thankfully, he didn't hold a grudge. "It's good to see you, Chuck. How's the new job?"

"So far, a bit crazy," he replied as he shook his head in aggravation. Chuck was settling in at his new job within the CIA…or at least trying to settle in. He had been going through a stack of résumés, mostly operatives in the field with considerable expertise in technology or college graduates from all over the country the Agency thought had a lot of potential. Chuck now understood why Big Mike was always cranky.

"Sweetie, could you put on a pot of coffee for all of us?" Sarah asked him.

Chuck smiled. "It's already brewing."

Sarah turned back to Alex. "Where were you being held?"

"I think we were at Brandonville. The last thing we did in Dublin was meet with James' friend, this Matthew Cotswold from MI-5. We were going to have breakfast with him the next day, and…I don't know. The rest is a blur. I think they must have drugged the coffee in the hotel room. The next thing I know, I wake up in a holding cell."

Sarah nodded. "And you think the person who did this is a mole inside the CIA?"

"It would make sense. Without Ring resources, setting up an operation to capture James and me would be the only solution."

Chuck returned with a tray of coffee mugs. "Did this guy ever give you a name?" he asked as he held the tray out for Alex.

"Thanks," Alex said as she took one of the coffee mugs. She looked at it momentarily before smiling. "Buy More mugs? I gather your dishes haven't made it here yet."

"Ugh, don't get me started," Sarah said with a bit of a growl.

Alex turned back to Chuck. "He never told me his name, no." She paused for a moment. "Wait, I think someone called him Mr. Ganz. Someone who was conducting my interrogation before he took it over."

"Let me look it up on the computer," Chuck replied before retreating to his office.

Alex turned to Sarah with a raised eyebrow. "The government can't ship your wedding gifts, but they can get Chuck secured Internet access?"

Sarah shook her head. "If I knew this was going to happen, I would have made Chuck stay in Italy. Between him getting home late four nights in a row, the empty house, and filling out a ridiculous amount of paperwork just to work at George Mason, I'm going out of my mind, and…" Sarah stopped and looked at the ground. "I'm sorry, Alex. I'm venting on such stupid things, and you've just…"

Alex smiled. "Hey, it's the best conversation I've had in a week. But the honeymoon was good, right?"

"Amazing," Sarah replied with an ear-to-ear grin. "The last two weeks have been a dream come true. I guess I'm still not used to it being over and having to get back to reality. It feels so weird spending all that time not going on missions or worrying about someone attacking us."

"Well, that was the original plan for James and me. But I think he is starting to come around. We had a wonderful time in Dublin…at least, that's how it was going until this happened. I even talked him into serenading the crowd at a pub."

Sarah's eyes widened. "Really? Wow. I have to watch out for you two. I learned long ago not to underestimate him, but even that's a shock. We almost had to put a gun to his head to sing our wedding song."

"Sarah? Alex?" Chuck called from his office. "Could you have a look at this?"

Sarah and Alex walked back to Chuck's desk. Chuck had a laptop two generations ahead of what could be bought in a store connected to what looked like a network router on steroids.

"Is this the person?" he asked while pointing at the monitor.

"That's him," Alex replied with considerable resentment towards the image on Chuck's laptop. "Who is he?"

"William Ganz. He's a domestic security consultant in the DNI. He reports to one of Beckman's advisors. He's, like, two promotions away from running the place."

"Do you have any evidence he worked for The Ring?"

"There's nothing here. The man covers his tracks well. He was smart enough to keep Matthew's murder off the daily briefs for the DNI. That would buy him some time."

"I meant, didn't you flash…oh, sorry. I forgot," Alex blushed.

Sarah grinned. "That's your guy now, not mine," she said good-naturedly.

"Terrific," Alex said in frustration. "The one person who could prove Ganz is bad is the person we have to rescue." Alex paused for a moment. "Wait. Ganz said he supposedly found files on my laptop that I was to sell to a courier for the Taliban stationed in Ireland. That was supposed to be my motive for convincing James to kill Cotswold. Chuck, if we got the laptop, could you figure out when the files were uploaded? If they were put on the laptop while I was in Ireland, it would prove I was framed."

"Do you know where the laptop is?"

Alex shook her head. "I would think he's keeping it somewhere safe. Either his home or his office."

Chuck nodded. "Even if they were able to fake the dates in the computer logs, I can check the sectors on the hard drive. If the code doesn't match the dates the files were supposedly put there, we'd have the proof."

"But it's still your word against his to prove he's a former Ring agent," Sarah interjected.

Alex nodded. "We need to get James."

Sarah turned to Chuck. "Sweetie, do you think you can do some shopping for us in the morning? I'll make up the list."

Chuck raised an eyebrow. "Is this going to get me into trouble my first week on the job?"

"Of course," Sarah replied with a look indicating Chuck would be 'compensated' for his troubles at a later point.

Sarah turned back to Alex. "Why don't you get some rest. We have a lot of work to do to pull this off. I'll wake you in a few hours. I wish we had something better than the couch, but Chuck and I are sleeping on an air mattress in our bedroom for at least a few more days until they deliver our bed."

Alex smiled. "Thanks, Sarah. I owe you two big time for this."

Sarah hugged her. "Hey, anything for you and Jimmy."

Chuck and Sarah retreated to their bedroom while Alex made herself comfortable on the couch. Compared to where she slept for the past four nights, this was a five-star hotel. She spent most of her night fearful Ganz would kill Jimmy once they discovered her gone. But to hear Chuck and Sarah talk so confidently about getting him back mollified those fears. She wasn't sure what Sarah was planning in terms of a rescue, but given she had not been on a mission in two weeks, Alex figured it would be epic.

_**Wall Street Heliport, New York City  
>October 13, 2011<br>9:00 AM EDT**_

General Beckman's helicopter landed on schedule. She was not one to stand on ceremony, having achieved her status the old-fashioned way: through hard work. As soon as the door slid open, she hopped out of the helicopter, and her assistant and bodyguard did all they could to keep up with her. The trio spotted the limousine that would ferry them to the hotel. The driver of the limousine signaled Beckman and opened the back door. Beckman got in, immediately followed by her bodyguard and her assistant. The driver closed the door and got in the front of the limousine. The car pulled out of the heliport and crawled along the gridlocked New York streets.

"I checked with my counterparts in London and Paris, General," Beckman's assistant said from the rear-facing seat beside the glass divider. "Everybody is still expected to arrive tomorrow as scheduled."

"Very well," Beckman replied. "Keep tabs on them and make sure I get the most up-to-date briefings from the NSA and Homeland. Check on those every hour."

"Yes, ma'am."

Beckman looked out the windows. They didn't appear to be moving particularly fast, but that was to be expected at this hour of the morning.

"How long will it take to get to the hotel?" the general asked her assistant.

Beckman's assistant knocked on the glass divider. "Driver, how long will it take to get to the Ritz-Carlton?" The driver didn't respond. The assistant knocked on the window more forcefully. "Driver, can you hear me?"

The glass divider between the windows lowered only a few inches. All three people in the back of the limousine heard the doors lock. An object flew over the divider, and the divider quickly shut. A thick gas poured out from the object thrown through the window. Beckman and her bodyguard tried to open the doors, but they would not function. The windows were also disabled. All three were overcome by the gas and fell unconscious.

_**Brandonville, West Virginia  
>October 13, 2011<br>9:15 AM EDT**_

Sarah should have kept her big mouth shut. She promised Chuck she would really appreciate him filling her shopping list. Given what he procured from the government to rescue Jimmy, she might have to break out the Princess Leia slave costume again.

Chuck got everything on the list and then some. The CIA was well-stocked with uniforms and equipment from various law enforcement agencies from around the world in case its agents had to impersonate officers of the law.

That included the state police of Pennsylvania.

Thanks to Alex misleading the CIA into thinking she went to Philadelphia to warn her family, Sarah hatched an ingenious plan to get into the facility in Brandonville. By pretending to be state troopers who captured Alex in Pennsylvania, it would sell the story Alex devised the previous night and allow them to slip into the detention facility. From there, Sarah and Alex would be able to take control of the facility long enough to rescue Jimmy. Hopefully, Chuck could do research on the types of drugs being used on Jimmy and locate an antidote, if possible.

Chuck drove the Pennsylvania State Police car up to the gate. Sarah sat next to him, and both of them were in uniform. Alex sat handcuffed in the back.

Chuck rolled down the window when the guard approached the car. "Yeah, I think you lost something," he said with a tinge of annoyance, making the guard think he wasn't happy to be playing delivery boy.

"Wow, you guys are quick," the guard replied. "We put out the alert only seven hours ago."

"Yeah, Philly Police picked her up walking along the roads middle of the night, no I.D., no nothing," Sarah replied, fashioning a Northeast accent. "They sent her prints over to us right when you guys put her in the system. Piece of cake."

"Well, thanks for your help. Let me call a couple of guards to take her in," the guard said as he reached for his phone.

"Hey," Chuck barked. "We gotta take her all the way in. Our commander's being a real prick about this. He gave us all this paperwork you guys have to fill out just so he doesn't think we're out here for a joyride or something. You know, wasting the taxpayer's dime and all that, right?" Chuck held up a folder filled to the brim with paper. "Unless you want to spend all day filling it out…"

The guard at the shack looked painfully at the large folder of paperwork Chuck held. He hung up the phone. "Not on my salary. Hell, no." He pointed to a building straight ahead. "Just take her into the building straight ahead, door number three. Park right in front. Nobody will tow you."

"Thanks buddy," Chuck replied as he pulled away and drove up to the building the guard designated. Chuck and Sarah exited the vehicle. Sarah opened the back door and guided the handcuffed Alex out of the vehicle. Chuck opened the door to the detention facility, and Sarah led Alex inside.

Chuck and Sarah kept the brims of their state trooper hats pulled low so the cameras wouldn't get a clear picture of them. They led Alex to the main desk.

"Thank God," the harried young desk officer said as he called for backup to escort Alex back to her cell. "You have no idea whom you caught last night. We were about to send her name to Interpol."

"Well, I guess you can call that off," Chuck replied. "But we got a lot of writing to do here. Our boss is really busting our balls about making the trip out here. Think you can have your boss call ours and smooth things over? I'd really rather not have to fill out all this paperwork."

"Uh, I can try. Can't promise you anything."

"No prob. Just let me use the phone to call my commander and we can put him through to your boss."

The desk officer gestured for Chuck to come behind the counter to use the phone. Chuck walked over to him as the man sent the automated email to law enforcement agencies to cancel the search for Alex. Four guards entered the office.

"Ready to transfer, Sergeant," one of the guards said to Sarah. Alex turned to face the four guards, and Sarah stood next to her.

Alex smiled and raised her hands up to show the chain on her handcuffs was broken.

The guards were momentarily shocked before reaching for their batons. Alex landed a vertical kick at the closest guard. A second guard got his baton out, but Sarah quick-drew her baton and smashed the guard's arm, forcing him to drop it. She whipped the baton around to trip the man, landing a hard jab on him as he hit the ground. The desk officer stood up in shock, but Chuck reached for the officer's sidearm and pointed it at his head. Alex thrust a palm strike at the third guard and followed it with a right hook. Sarah spun and landed a roundhouse kick on the final guard.

"Hands behind your back, pal," Chuck ordered.

Alex stared at Chuck. "Is it me, or did your husband get a lot hotter recently?" she said quietly to Sarah, who responded with an annoyed glance.

Alex came behind the desk. She took the officer's handcuffs and put them on him as Sarah removed the weapons and access cards of the other guards and handcuffed them.

"You're not getting away with this," the desk officer angrily said.

"Yeah, and neither will the son of a bitch who's been giving you your orders," Alex seethed. "He's a mole in the DNI. How would you like that to show up in your file? You've been carrying out the orders of a traitor."

She took the gun from Chuck and aimed it right between the officer's eyes. "How do you turn off the gas pumping into Agent Murdock's cell? It will kill him if we don't turn it off."

The officer was shaking. "I…I don't know. The guy who ordered it said it was only to keep him at bay. He said it was harmless. The tanks are sealed underground. The computer controls them. But I don't know how."

Alex looked around before spotting a storage closet. "In there," she ordered while motioning to the closet with the gun. The man got up and walked to the storage closet. Alex shoved him to the ground as he went inside.

"Chuck, duct tape," Alex ordered. Chuck quickly looked in the desks and found a roll. He tossed it to Alex, who tore off a piece of tape and put it over the officer's mouth.

"Can you watch things up here?" Sarah asked her husband as she pulled one of the guards into the storage closet. She tore a piece of duct tape off the roll and put it over the guard's mouth.

"Sure."

"Place duct tape on the rest of the guards and put them in the storage closet. Then see if you can get the gas shut off and figure out how to save Jimmy."

Chuck looked inside the closet and pulled out a small oxygen tank and mask. "You might need this," he told them.

"Thanks Chuck," Alex replied. She put the gun behind her back as she took the oxygen tank from him. Chuck handed Sarah and Alex earpieces and put one in his own ear.

"Let's go," Sarah said.

Sarah and Alex peeked out into the hall to see if anybody was around. Alex pointed them down the hallway, and they made their way slowly towards Jimmy's cell. They rounded a corner and took a guard completely by surprise. A well-placed elbow by Alex to the guard's midsection knocked him to the ground, and she finished him off with a vicious jab. They quickly moved down the hall, taking great care to make sure nobody was either ahead of them or following them. Alex made it around the next corner and stopped in shock.

"James!"

She ran the final twenty feet to Jimmy's cell and pressed up against the glass in horror as she saw Jimmy not moving on the floor. Sarah stared in fright as well before shaking it off and going for the door.

"Chuck, we need the gas turned off now!" she shouted.

"Trying!" Chuck replied in a panic. He continued to type away furiously at the computer to find the system controlling the airflow to the various cells.

"Alex, come on!" Sarah said, pulling Alex to the door of the cell.

"Got it Sarah," Chuck said as he shut off the gas being pumped into the cell. He reversed the airflow to pump the gas out. "It'll be clear in fifteen seconds."

Sarah stood by the door with the access card at the ready. Alex readied the oxygen tank.

"In two…one…go ahead," Chuck called.

Sarah swiped the access card and unlocked the door. She threw it open, and Alex rushed inside. She knelt by Jimmy's side and turned him over. She placed the oxygen mask over his face and switched on the tank.

"James, please James," Alex whispered into Jimmy's ear as Sarah came in and knelt by Jimmy as well.

Sarah checked Jimmy's pulse. "His pulse is barely there."

"OK, I was able to shut off the tank," Chuck said over their earpieces. "I'm trying to figure out what they've been giving him and see if there's anything we can do."

"As fast as you can, Chuck," Sarah replied. "We don't know how much time we have." Sarah put a hand on Alex's shoulder. "He's going to be fine. But we have to get him out of here."

Alex steadied herself. "Yeah, you're right."

Both of them stood and looked around. "We need something to transport him," Alex said.

Sarah walked outside the cell and looked around. She spotted a gurney at the end of the hallway. She ran down to grab it and wheeled it into the cell.

"Here we go," she said as she placed it next to Jimmy. She hung the oxygen tank on the gurney and lifted under Jimmy's arms while Alex grabbed his legs. They tried to lift him.

"Ugh!" Sarah grunted loudly. "Holy crap! He loses two hundred pounds, and he's still a ton of bricks!"

Alex looked at her in surprise. "What?"

Now Sarah was surprised. "He didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"When we first found him, he weighed over four hundred pounds."

"He used to weigh four hundred pounds?" Alex stared at Jimmy in complete shock. "No wonder why I'm always on top!"

Sarah took a tiny step back. "OK, you're shading into 'too much information' territory."

"Oh, God. That explains everything. He still thinks he's a little fat kid inside. Anything we try in the bedroom is stuff I want. I can't get him to tell me any of his fantasies. He just acts like he's happy to be there."

"Why didn't you know about any of this? Don't the two of you ever talk?"

"Yeah, I talk. He listens. Anytime I want him to talk about his past, he gets really quiet and uncomfortable. But I figured given what happened with his dad and that accident…"

"Oh, it's worse than that, Alex. He was basically on his own since he was 8. No friends, kids in school used to beat him up, the works. Growing up, he got screwed over in almost every way possible."

Alex shook her head. "No wonder you keep telling me to be patient with him."

"Well, duh. It's like pulling teeth with him sometimes. We wouldn't have been able to rescue you in Vegas if I didn't force him to help us."

"How exactly did you force him?"

Sarah stopped in her tracks, realizing she may have shared too much. "Well, it was nothing…"

"You didn't put a gun to his head, did you?"

"No, of course not! I…well…I made him kiss me."

Alex stared at her. "Wait. You two kissed?"

Sarah got a bit flustered. "It…it was to prove a point. I needed to show him he could be cold-hearted when he needed to be."

"Wait, you kissed my boyfriend, and then you get mad when I say Chuck is hot?"

"He wasn't your boyfriend at the time. And what are you talking about? I didn't get mad. I'm just not used to women saying Chuck's hot. Especially you. It threw me for a loop."

"Don't tell me you don't think your own husband is hot."

"No, that's not what I'm saying! It's…"

They were interrupted by someone clearing their throat. Sarah and Alex turned to see a very amused Chuck waiting by the door.

"Perhaps you two like to continue your conversation over a couple of cosmos?" he asked with an ear-to-ear grin. "Maybe go shoe shopping later?"

"How much of our conversation did you hear?" Sarah asked in irritation.

Chuck pulled out his earpiece. "Uh, the whole thing?"

Both women looked down in embarrassment. "Could we…uh, just…" Alex stammered.

"How about we get Jimmy out of here first, and then we'll do the 'pretend that never happened' stuff."

Alex quietly laughed. "Am I the only one to find it unsettling when Chuck is the voice of reason?"

Sarah shook her head. "Nope, it still happens to me." She turned to Chuck. "Did you figure out what was in the gas?"

Chuck produced a needle and syringe. "Yes, it's a mixture of chlorotrilate and small levels of PCP. Basically, Jimmy wouldn't have known he was on planet Earth if he was inhaling this. This syringe contains medication that will clear it out of his system."

Sarah took the needle from Chuck. "Is the gas deadly?"

"If you inhale enough of it, sure. If they had him on it since last weekend, he may have had only a day or so left where he could tolerate it before permanent damage set in. Thank God he's in such good shape now. He could probably handle it better than most people."

Sarah injected Jimmy with the antidote. "Chuck, you lift his arms. Alex and I will get his legs."

Chuck moved to grab Jimmy's arms while Sarah and Alex each took a leg. They lifted Jimmy up with considerable effort but got him onto the gurney.

"OK, let's get him out of here," Alex said.

Sarah led the way as Chuck and Alex wheeled the unconscious Jimmy out of his cell and down the hallway. Sarah kept an eye out for any other guards as they wheeled Jimmy towards the entrance. They heard footsteps ahead. Sarah readied herself as a pair of guards turned the corner. She sent her boot into the first one, knocking him back. The second guard came at them, but Alex pushed off the front of the gurney and kicked high into the air, knocking him down. The first one tried to attack again, but Sarah landed a roundhouse to take him down. Two more guards came after them. The first one managed to knock Sarah down, but Alex spun and took him out with a roundhouse kick. The second one lunged at Alex. Chuck grabbed the oxygen tank and swung it at him, knocking the guard unconscious. Chuck went to pull Sarah up, and one of the guards who was knocked down got up behind them with his baton out.

A leg shot into the air and nailed the man in the chin. He fell unconscious.

Chuck, Sarah, and Alex turned in surprise and stared at the unconscious guard. They then turned to the person who knocked him out.

Jimmy rolled off the gurney and stumbled around. Chuck and Alex grabbed him and steadied him. He looked back and forth between them in a daze.

"Damn party crashers," Jimmy slurred. "I promise; I'll help clean up."

Alex smiled and kissed Jimmy on his cheek. He turned to her in surprise.

"You kissed me? How drunk are you?"

All three of them rolled their eyes. "He's back," Sarah said in displeasure.

Chuck and Alex guided Jimmy back to the squad car and placed him in the back seat. Alex got in the back seat as well and held onto him as Chuck and Sarah got in the front seat. The car sped off, not bothering to stop at the guard shack on the way out.

Alex looked back at the facility as Chuck high-tailed it for the interstate. She turned back to Chuck and Sarah. "Thank you. Thank you so much for helping me."

"Hey, after everything you two did for us, this is the least we could do," Chuck said with a smile.

"But we're only halfway home," Sarah replied.

Alex nodded as she held on to Jimmy, who had fallen asleep in her arms. "We need to get my laptop to prove those files were planted. Any ideas?"

Chuck laughed, and Sarah looked at him with a smile. "I think Chuck has that taken care of already," she said.

_**New York, NY  
>October 13, 2011<br>1:30 PM EDT**_

General Beckman slowly awakened to find herself handcuffed to a chair in a run-down warehouse. She looked around, but the only thing she saw was the limousine that picked her party up from the heliport. She was uncertain how they were able to capture her, but she was certain heads were going to roll over this. Kidnapping someone who advised the President on a weekly basis was not something to be undertaken without giving it serious thought.

She heard footsteps approach her, and she wanted to break every bone in the body of the man who walked in with a chair and sat down in front of her.

"Where's my assistant and my bodyguard?" Beckman demanded.

"Funny you should ask, General," Ganz replied with a malevolent smirk. "It seems a couple of jobs are available in your department all of a sudden. Not to worry; I'll post them on the internal Website. I might even give their replacements a bump in salary. You do grossly underpay the people who work for you."

"I should have guessed it would be you, Ganz," Beckman spat out. "There was always something a little off about your advisory papers. And how long have you been a disgrace to this country?"

Ganz smiled. "Long enough to have made quite the fool out of your and your department. Who do you think told The Ring where the new Intersect computer was housed?"

Beckman scoffed. "Still have some lingering sentiment for that dead organization?"

"I prefer to think of it as dormant. Just sitting there, waiting for the right person to bring it back to life. The littlest spark to rejuvenate it. Such as capturing your precious new Intersect?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Beckman responded in full denial.

"Of course you don't. You'll deny his very existence, even though I already know about Jimmy Slade. To you, he's the Intersect. To the rest of our intelligence community, he's now a criminal. A murderer."

Beckman kept her expression unchanged, but she was ready to strangle Ganz for betraying her.

"Of course, it'd be very hard to prove Slade is a murderer with you on the loose. But killing you would look very suspicious. So I just need to keep you long enough where you can't cause any trouble. In a few days, the President's advisors will be mailed some incriminating evidence that you tried to cover up Slade's murder of a British agent. You'll try to defend yourself, of course, but the evidence will be quite overwhelming. You'll be forced to resign, and they'll order Slade to be eliminated. Something I'll be happy to take care of for them, as I am a trusted member of the DNI."

Ganz stood up. "At least, that's what the White House will think. But I think handing over the new Intersect would be enough for me to secure a position of prominence wherever I wish."

Ganz walked out of the warehouse, leaving Beckman handcuffed to the chair.

_**Washington, D.C.  
>October 13, 2011<br>3:00 PM EDT**_

Chuck casually strolled into the offices of the Director of National Intelligence. He remembered what Sarah taught him about infiltration: act like you know what you're doing and don't do anything to leave a lasting impression. He always thought it was funny she told him never to leave a lasting impression, given how beautiful she was. Anyplace she went, she always left a lasting impression.

Sarah and Alex returned the uniforms and the squad car to the CIA. They found a hotel to lay low in and let Jimmy rest while Chuck completed his part of the assignment. Given the lack of furniture in their house…to say nothing about the voicemail message they got concerning the arrival of their furniture being delayed a few more days…a hotel sounded like a good idea for everybody.

Chuck walked up to Ganz's assistant and showed her his I.D. "Hi, I think you were expecting me. Mr. Ganz had some equipment he had to log with Tech Services?"

Lt. Cates stared in surprise. "Nobody said anything to me."

"Really? I know I sent an email about it. Mr. Ganz was very insistent someone Level III or higher come to inventory the equipment because there were some top-secret files on it."

"Nobody sent me…" Cates was interrupted by her computer beeping. She checked her email. "Oh, I apologize. It's right here."

Chuck smiled, mostly in relief because he thought the email he faked didn't get through. "I'll only be a minute."

Lt. Cates hit the buzzer underneath her desk to allow Chuck access to Ganz's office. Chuck looked quickly for Alex's laptop. He went through Ganz's desk drawers and file cabinets but couldn't find it. He then noticed a picture on the wall at an odd angle. Sure enough, a safe was hidden behind it. He used his skeleton keycard to open the safe. Alex's laptop was inside.

He quickly pulled out the laptop and booted it up. He ran the logs for the disk drives and opened the file which assigned the files on the drive to different sectors. He copied the data to a flash drive and quickly shut down the laptop. He returned it to the safe and swung the picture back to hide the safe.

He walked out of Ganz's office. "All set. Thank you," he said quickly to Lt. Cates. He exited the building and went to meet up with Sarah and Alex.

_**Hyatt Regency Hotel, Reston, VA  
>October 13, 2011<br>8:00 PM EDT**_

Alex looked over Jimmy, who was sound asleep in the bed. She was exhausted from the events of the past twenty-four hours. Even the four hours of sleep she got on Chuck and Sarah's couch didn't completely help. All she could think about was how close Jimmy had come to death today. And for what? Just so some traitorous bastard could get a job with the next evil organization? Ganz wanted to take away everything she had: her career, her friends, her family, and her love. She didn't care what she had to do: this son of a bitch had to be taken out.

She exhaled slowly, trying not to get worked up. She gently brushed Jimmy's hair away from his eyes, tenderly running her hand along his face. His face was replete with a scraggly beard from being locked up for over a week, but he was still beautiful as far as she was concerned.

She leaned down and gave him a gentle kiss. "I love you," she whispered into his ear before reluctantly standing up and walking to the living room area.

Chuck sat at the table in the dining room area of the spacious suite analyzing the logs he copied from Alex's laptop while Sarah signed for the room service.

"How is he?" Chuck asked.

"Still sleeping," Alex replied. "Given what we've been through in the last week, I think that's a good sign. The one or two times I saw him in the holding facility were a little frightening."

Chuck nodded in sympathy. "Well, here's some good news." He turned the laptop so Alex could see the screen as Sarah looked on. "I checked the locations where files have been stored recently. Based on the numbering of the sectors, it shows there was a file loaded onto your laptop last week, but the operating system says the same file was loaded onto your computer six weeks ago. If you uploaded any file, there should be no discrepancy. Someone put a file on there to make it look like you had it for a much longer period of time."

"So I was set up."

"No doubt about it," Chuck replied.

"You should bring this information to Beckman right away," Sarah added. "She couldn't know you've been in a holding facility this whole time. Ganz would have to keep that secret, or Beckman would have talked to you and Jimmy long before now."

Alex shook her head. "That's what's been bothering me. How did Beckman not know about any of this? There's no way she would have thought James was capable of killing someone in cold blood."

"That's true. She gets reports every day from the NSA, CIA, Homeland, even foreign intelligence agencies. There's no way Ganz could keep her in the dark about this forever."

Alex's eyes widened. "Unless part of Ganz's plan was to eliminate her, too."

Chuck shook his head. "No way. He'd have the entire government after him if he did that."

"Maybe he doesn't have to," Sarah replied.

"What do you mean?"

"If Ganz framed Alex and Jimmy for Matt's murder, he would also have to frame Beckman to keep her from stepping in. Perhaps he conjured evidence implicating her for the murder or trying to cover it up."

"If you're right, he'd have to keep Beckman out of the way." Alex was silent for a moment. "Is Beckman in D.C. right now?"

Chuck did some research on the computer using an encrypted wireless connection, one of the perks of his new job. "According to her schedule, she's supposed to be in New York right now. She's meeting with the heads of the British and French intelligence agencies the day after tomorrow. She's supposed to be staying at the Ritz-Carlton near Central Park."

"How much do you want to bet she never made it to the hotel?" Alex asked with renewed energy.

Chuck checked the database at the Ritz-Carlton. "The computer says she checked in. But I don't know; that could have been faked. Give me a moment. It'll take time to coordinate all of the security cameras on Wall Street. I just have to hack into Homeland's servers.

Alex took a piece of fruit from the room service tray and nibbled on it. She paced back and forth while waiting for Chuck to pull up the surveillance cameras.

"I have them," Chuck said several moments later. He opened a series of windows to show traffic cameras from the area around Wall Street. He punched up the correct approximate time for each.

"OK, that limousine right there pulled out of the Wall Street Heliport about the time Beckman would have landed."

Chuck, Sarah, and Alex watched the video feeds. The limousine followed the correct route to the Ritz-Carlton.

"There," Sarah replied. "Traffic is moving normally, but the limousine pulled off the route?"

All three looked at each other. "They kidnapped her," Chuck concluded. "You were right, Alex."

"So let's go get her."

Chuck, Sarah, and Alex turned towards the voice. Jimmy was standing in the doorway. He then rubbed his face.

"Well, maybe I should shave first."


	5. If You Can Make It There

_I guess this is what happens when you leave your stories open-ended and not plan every last detail. This was originally supposed to be the last chapter, but then I had a lot of new material to write at the beginning and the end of the chapter that would have pushed it well over 10,000 words. Therefore, I decided to split it into two smaller chapters. I hope you don't mind. Of course, my definition of a smaller chapter is still close to 5,000 words. :-D_

_The "T" rating again gets pushed a bit, but I couldn't help adding a little blurb about a certain YouTube video someone created regarding a certain character and a certain song done on by some guys on a Lonely Island on Saturday Night Live once. And if you don't know what I'm talking about by now, you probably don't want to know._

_Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter, and please leave some reviews._

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><p><em><strong>Hyatt Regency Hotel, Reston, VA<br>October 13, 2011  
>8:45 PM EDT<strong>_

Chuck, Sarah, and Alex turned in surprise when they heard Jimmy. His determination was something they were used to seeing, although he never looked as disheveled as he did now, even when he weighed twice as much. He was typically one to keep a neat appearance.

Alex walked over to him and took his hands. "How are you feeling?"

"Uh, still kind of fuzzy. And it feels like I've got the mother of all hangovers. But what happened to us? We were sitting in our hotel in Dublin, and then I think I blacked out. Were we at some big party? I don't know why, but it felt like I was drunk off my ass at some point. And why are Chuck and Sarah here?"

His eyes widened slightly, and he turned to the couple who discovered him and changed the path of his life forever. "Not that I'm not happy to see the two of you, but what is going on?"

"Sit down. We'll explain," Alex said as she led Jimmy to a seat at the table where Chuck has his computer set up.

Jimmy suddenly bolted in the chair and made sure his robe was closed. "Sorry, bad habit. Two years ago, this robe would not have been cutting it. Guaranteed wardrobe malfunction."

Sarah gave a quiet growl. Jimmy looked at her in irritation. "I said two years ago." He turned back towards Chuck but caught his image in a mirror on the opposite wall. "Aagh! Now I know why I have a desire to drink White Russians and go bowling. By the way, did a rug show up for me?"

"OK, Dude, we have work to do," Chuck replied before Jimmy could annoy Sarah and Alex further. He turned his monitor to Jimmy. "It's about this man right here."

Jimmy froze and his eyes darted back and forth in a zigzag pattern.

"Is that what his flash looks like?" Sarah asked.

Alex nodded. Chuck looked on in fascination, never having witnessed himself in the middle of a flash.

"Is that what I looked like when I flashed?"

Sarah and Alex looked at each other. Alex shook her head and tried to keep her laughter in check. "I'm sure Sarah can tell you what your flash face looked like. In fact, I'm sure she saw a lot of it in the last two weeks."

Chuck was confused. "We've been on our honeymoon. The only thing we did was…oh, man!"

Chuck turned cherry red with embarrassment. Sarah's eyes shot daggers at Alex, but she shrugged. "Blame your former co-worker for that one. Casey said it once and I couldn't un-see it after that."

Jimmy cleared his throat, prompting everyone to refocus. It's Bill Ganz. A security consultant in the DNI and member of The Ring. His main focus was to feed intel and manage inventory for several regions along the…" Jimmy looked at the three. "You already knew this, right?"

"You confirmed what we suspected, James."

"Wow, the taxpayers are really getting their money's worth out of me," Jimmy said in frustration for being the last one to know. "OK, so he kidnapped us?"

Alex looked down at the ground before taking Jimmy's hand. "Ganz had your friend Matt killed, and he framed us for the murder."

Jimmy felt the wind go out of him. "God," he said. "Matt…" Jimmy's breathing was labored. Alex gently rubbed his back until his breathing returned to normal.

Jimmy was subdued. "Why?"

"Somehow, he found out you're the new Intersect," Chuck quietly replied. "He was interrogating Alex and accidentally called you Jimmy instead of Roger Murdock."

Jimmy nodded. "That would make him Ring, alright. He must be hoping some new group rises up."

"That was our guess, too," Sarah answered. "Just like before The Ring, there was a group within the government called Fulcrum. Ganz is planning to shop you to that new group."

"So he kidnapped Beckman so she wouldn't put a stop to his plans? Can you show me the footage again, Chuck?"

"Sure." Jimmy moved behind Chuck as he ran the footage from the various traffic cameras around Wall Street.

Sarah pointed to the monitor. "There's where they deviated from the route. They were supposed to head for the Ritz-Carlton."

Jimmy shook his head. "No, that's not what I'm looking for. Do any of the cameras get a good shot of the license plate or any markings to indicate the name of the limousine company?"

"Maybe," Chuck replied as he began to pour over the footage.

"What are you thinking?" Sarah asked Jimmy.

"Just a theory I'm hoping the Intersect will confirm."

"Here you go," Chuck said as he played footage of the limousine turning a corner. Chuck zoomed the image so the entire back of the limousine could be seen.

Sarah read the license plate. "XTR-761. That's a standard New York limousine license plate. It has the Taxi & Limousine Commission designation."

She turned to Jimmy, who was in the middle of a flash. She waited for him to snap out of it.

"Hammond Limousine Services," he concluded. "They're a suspected front company for The Ring. They're in every major city east of the Mississippi where you'd get a lot of airport traffic. They were used to ferry top-level brass of The Ring and for laundering funds from overseas weapons sales. Ganz probably knew the people in charge of the one in New York and put them to work."

Jimmy turned to Chuck and Sarah with a somber look. "That's a lot of personnel to go up against if that's what Ganz did. I can't let you two go up there with us. You're out of the field now…"

"Uh-uh," Chuck firmly replied. "Don't even think about telling us to stay on the sidelines. You did plenty for us when you didn't have to. We're not going to let you do this without some help."

Jimmy turned to Sarah, hoping she'd be a bit more practical. "Jimmy, we have no furniture in our house, I've been in two dozen stores in the last three days, and I'm sick of filling out paperwork just to tell a bunch of 20-year-olds how tough their life is going to be. I am going out of my mind. I need a mission. Either you are going to let me kick some ass, or I'm going to settle for kicking yours."

Jimmy stepped back in surprise before turning to Alex, who simply put her hands up in surrender. "Without Beckman, we'll never be reinstated. We need all the help we can get."

Jimmy was silent. He wasn't expecting this so soon. A year ago, he couldn't have fathomed any of this happening to him. He was now the government's most important asset; important enough for someone to resort to cold-blooded murder and to capture one of the highest-ranking officials in the country just to get to him. He couldn't deny it; he was scared.

But he had been scared before. And the people in front of him were around to help then, too.

Sarah may have thought Jimmy was exaggerating when he told her he'd be dead had he not met Chuck, Casey, and her, but Jimmy knew he wasn't overstating it. He helped them fend off The Ring when they first met him, but he was borderline suicidal when they barely got Chuck's sister away from being killed. He didn't want them risking their lives for him, but they refused to abandon him. No matter how bad things got, they stuck by him and helped him. Thanks to them, he was now a full-time operative and had already moved up the ranks. And there wasn't a chance in hell he would have met and fallen in love with Alex had it not been for them. As much as he didn't want to put Chuck and Sarah into the line of fire, there was nobody he wanted more to help him.

He looked at everybody and smiled. "You know, when Casey finds out we went on a rescue like this without him, he's going to be pissed."

Chuck grinned. "Let's go rescue our boss." He turned to Sarah. "Or former boss, in your case."

The four began to map out their strategy.

_**Hyatt Regency Hotel, Reston, VA  
>October 13, 2011<br>11:30 PM EDT**_

Jimmy took a long look at himself in the mirror in the bathroom. He looked semi-human again. The beard had been shaved off, and his hair was back to normal. The shower he took did him a lot of good. But he was still concerned for what happened both to Matthew and to Alex and himself. He never heard of this Bill Ganz before tonight, and yet Alex and he spent a week in a detention facility because of what he was trying to do. He could never understand the motivations of certain people…Ganz, Mr. Diaz, Sergei Kolinova, Alicia Grant…to do things so horrid, so reprehensible. Despite how he grew up, he never truly wanted to kill anybody in cold blood, although he was tempted a few times. He never expected to come across so many people who had no trouble manipulating and destroying others for their own gain.

Now it was his job to stop it. There were people out there who did that for him once, and those same people thought he could do it, too. They were right. And they were going to help him stop this bastard, too.

He emerged from the bathroom to see Alex in a robe from the hotel similar to the one he was wearing. To say she was a sight for sore eyes was a gross understatement. Jimmy never saw anything more beautiful in his life. And based on the tight embrace he was suddenly on the receiving end of from Alex, she was unbelievably happy to see him, too.

Their breathing came hot and fast as they shared a searing kiss. "God I missed you," Alex whispered into Jimmy's mouth as her hands roamed every inch of him.

"I missed you, too," Jimmy replied. His hands gently caressed her face as he hungrily sought her lips.

Alex quietly huffed. "This robe has to go." She undid the sash on Jimmy's robe and pulled it off of him. She stepped back to admire the muscular frame in front of her. "I'll have to ask Sarah where she found those boxers. When we're done with this, I'm going to buy a dozen pairs of them for you. You have no idea how hot you look right now."

Jimmy was confused. "Sarah bought these? When?"

"While Chuck was retrieving my laptop, Sarah and I brought you here. Like she told you, their house has no furniture, so we decided to get adjoining suites at this hotel while we figured out what to do and also give you time to recuperate. I guess Chuck was right; you recovered very well."

Jimmy looked down at the ground. "I hope I wasn't too much trouble."

"You were fine. We had one of the bellhops assist us with getting you out of the car. We just told them you came off of surgery and were still loopy on painkillers. They loaned us a wheelchair to get you upstairs. From there it was easy. Sarah went and bought some clothes and some supplies for us while I stayed here and kept an eye on you."

"That explains the new toothbrush and shaving kit in the bathroom," Jimmy said. "But if I was locked up unconscious in a cell for a week, shouldn't I have been stinking to high heaven? And did someone put me in different clothes?"

Alex nodded. "While Sarah was out, I got cleaned up. Then I didn't want you to stay in that jumpsuit, so I got you out of it and tried to clean you up as much as possible. Just a little spongebath; nothing to be embarrassed about. I didn't wake you, did I?"

"No, not at all. In fact, it was the most pleasant rest..." Jimmy noticed Alex turning a bit sheepish. "Why do I get the feeling…"

Alex tried to give him the innocent eyes. "Well, I…might have paid attention to some parts of you more than others." Jimmy gave her a look. "I haven't been with you in a week, babe. Cut me a little slack."

Jimmy grinned. "Then why am I standing here ignoring your needs?" He started kissing and nibbling on her neck, which sent Alex into an instant frenzy. She took off her robe. Jimmy paused to admire the white silk camisole and matching panties Alex had on.

"Also Sarah's idea," Alex lustfully said as Jimmy's hungry eyes looking up and down her body was turning her on. "She guessed I might need this since we hadn't seen each other in a week."

"As if you weren't hot enough," Jimmy said in amazement as he gazed at the stunning blonde in front of him.

Alex smiled as she took Jimmy's face in her hands and kissed him with a passion that coursed through her entire body. She melted contentedly as his large frame enveloped her. Jimmy planted more kisses along the long slope of her neck. Jimmy started to reach down but stopped himself.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked in confusion.

"Sorry, I was about to…" Jimmy shied away.

"What?" Alex asked more insistently.

"I was going to sweep you up and carry you to the bed, but…I mean, you're an agent, and that's probably demeaning…"

Alex wrapped her arms around him. "Believe me, there won't be a better moment than now. Well, technically there's one, but that involves rings and wedding dresses and big receptions and lots of planning, and I'm just getting used to being in love again, so that's staying on the back burner for a while."

Jimmy gave a shy smile and picked Alex up in his arms. She gave him a passionate kiss.

"OK, either I weigh less than I think, or you're a lot stronger than I give you credit for," Alex said while caressing Jimmy's face as he carried her to the bed. "You're not even breathing hard."

Jimmy shrugged as he carried Alex to the bed, gently laying her on it as they continued to kiss. Jimmy lay on his side as their lips were locked permanently together. Alex tried to pull him down on top of her, but he resisted. She wrapped her arms tightly around him to pull him down, but he still wouldn't budge.

"James, what are you…you're still doing that," Alex said as she leaned on her side and stared at him.

"Doing what?"

"You're still holding back. Part of you still thinks you're that 400-pound kid from school everybody made fun of."

Jimmy stared at her. "I had to ask Sarah because you never talk to me about it," Alex said with a tinge of frustration

Jimmy fell silent and looked down. Alex sat up in the bed and took his face in her hands. "I know I sound like a hypocrite when I say this, but you can't keep living in the past. A lot of people need to remember their past because it defines who they are now, but that can't be you. You're not that guy anymore. If you were, we never would have met in the first place."

Alex paused and gazed into Jimmy's eyes as she held him. "Look, I can't sit here and pretend I know what you went through. High school and college were great times for me. I spent eight years as the hot tomboy guys wanted to date…assuming they weren't intimidated by me. But I want to know you. I may not be able to give you any answers, but I'm willing to listen, just like you were there for me when I needed you. I love you, and I don't want anything between us. This is the happiest I've ever been in my life, and it's all because of you. So let who you used to be stay in the past and be happy for who and where you are now."

Jimmy looked into her ocean blue eyes. Alex was always the confident one between them. She was also quite passionate, nothing at all like the closed-off arrogant agent he first encountered in Las Vegas. How she fell in love with him was still beyond his comprehension, but he sure as hell couldn't argue the point, especially since he was in love with her.

He gently pulled her to him and gave her a fervent kiss. She pulled him down on top of her, and this time he didn't resist. He ran his hands through her long silky hair as they became more and more worked up.

He paused momentarily. "Do women actually like the guy to be on top?"

Alex smiled and ran her fingers through his hair. "The ones we love, absolutely. It's like having a really comfortable blanket to curl yourself up in when the weather is cold."

Jimmy kissed her and slid on top of her. He started to press into her when she let out a little scream. Jimmy leaped off her like he touched a hot plate.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he said in a panic. "I knew I shouldn't have…"

Alex clapped her hand hard over his mouth. "It wasn't you. I'm still hurt from the beating I took in the detention facility. They must have cracked a rib."

Jimmy stared in shock. Alex gently caressed his arm. "It's OK. That bastard Ganz probably ordered it. Don't worry; I gave Chuck a description of who did it, and he ran it through his facial recognition software. The person was a hired gun. We forwarded her name to the CIA. They'll arrest her at the facility, and that should be enough to get us off the hook for breaking you out of there today."

"Are you OK?" Jimmy asked nervously.

Alex lifted her camisole to check. "Well, the bruise doesn't look too bad. I've had a lot worse."

Jimmy leaned down and gave it a few tender kisses, eliciting a gentle laugh from Alex.

"I think the 'kiss it and make it better' thing only works if you're a mom," Alex replied with a smirk. Jimmy continued kissing Alex's chest and stomach. "Mmmm, but don't let me stop you from trying."

Alex pulled the camisole off of her and lay back in the bed. Jimmy ran the tip of his tongue over her taut stomach, making Alex giggle. Jimmy looked up at her in surprise.

"You never heard that," Alex said with a stern gaze.

Jimmy raised an eyebrow. "Yes, ma'am," he mocked. "Perhaps you'd prefer making other noises instead?" He started kissing down her body, sliding her panties off in the process.

"Oh, that I do," Alex purred as she laid back and enjoyed Jimmy's work on her.

_**700 W. End Avenue, New York  
>October 14, 2011<br>7:30 AM EDT**_

Bill Ganz tried her number for the fifth time since last night. The woman he hired to infiltrate the holding facility as a guard was supposed to give an update last night, and he had not heard from her.

He was planning to head back to Brandonville later today to check on the progress of Jimmy Slade. The man was in good shape, but he wouldn't stand the chlorotrilate/PCP combination forever. Ganz would have to take him off of it for a while since there was no way he could deliver damaged goods to the contact he found. As soon as the contact set up a meeting time and place, he would hand Slade over to him and get rid of Forrest. The file being sent to the President's Chief of Staff implicating Beckman should be delivered first thing Monday morning, right around the time Beckman was supposed to begin her meetings. Once it was, Ganz would simply drop her off at her hotel…just in time for the authorities to take her into custody.

Ganz looked at his phone again. He didn't believe in coincidence. If Forrest escaped, she certainly wouldn't run; she would attempt to rescue Slade. It would be a near-impossible task to break him out of a high-security facility, but Ganz didn't put it past her to succeed. She also might try to find Beckman.

He dialed another number. "Call everybody to the warehouse. I'm going to move Beckman to the offices on Madison. If Slade arrives, you capture him. I repeat: I want Slade taken alive. You can kill that bitch Forrest."

_**700 W. End Avenue, New York  
>October 14, 2011<br>9:00 AM EDT**_

Sarah considered it a bit ironic it took Chuck a long time before he would carry any sort of gun and now he was able to authorize an entire arsenal of weapons for their rescue of General Beckman. Of course, Chuck being the only one of the four who could get authorization at the moment didn't stop her from that thought.

The databases in the CIA came up with a hit on Alex's assailant. A team of agents were on the way to arrest her. They expected her to plea to a deal to give up Ganz, but that would take time. Fortunately, Jimmy and Alex were cleared of Cotswold's murder, thanks to an inspector in Ireland's _An Garda Síochána, _who was at the pub the night Jimmy did his impromptu _Commitments_ tribute. He searched the traffic cameras around Dublin and forwarded the surveillance footage to MI-5 proving Jimmy and Alex were two miles away when their agent was killed.

Without Beckman, however, the Intersect project would be dead. As would Jimmy and Alex, and now Chuck and Sarah as well.

Jimmy drove the vehicle they procured from the CIA regional office in North Jersey. Thankfully, their office was well-suited for working in New York. They had a vehicle disguised as a taxicab appropriate for their use in this situation, as the warehouse of Hammond Limousine Services was in an area where many other limousine and taxi companies kept their fleets.

They located the warehouse and drove past it. They didn't want to get out until Chuck had a chance to scan the warehouse for any surveillance cameras.

"Hang on," he said as his laptop picked up a wireless signal. "Keep driving around and let me record some video to loop on their systems."

"You got it," Jimmy replied from the front seat. "We only need enough time to get inside. We don't even know if she's here."

"Isn't there anything in the Intersect that can figure out if she's nearby? You know, do a Professor X and sense if she's around?"

Sarah and Alex each gave Chuck a weird look. "Uh, yeah," Jimmy warily replied. "Let's call that Plan B, huh?"

Chuck shook his head. "OK, I recorded 8 minutes of video. That should be enough time for us to go in."

"Us?" Jimmy said. He glanced back at Sarah. She threw her hands up.

"It's that, or I have to deal with a very long argument later. I don't need more of those."

"Do you have any images of the interior of the warehouse?" Alex asked. Chuck found the appropriate file and opened it on his laptop.

"There," Alex said. "That catwalk will work. Chuck, you'll sneak upstairs with the M4 Carbine while Sarah, James, and I look for Beckman. Once we have her, lay down some cover fire so we can get her out."

"OK, that I can do," Chuck replied.

Jimmy pulled the taxi to a warehouse across the street from the limousine service so it blended in with the other taxicabs. They opened the trunk and took out the needed firearms. Checking carefully to see nobody was watching, Chuck, Sarah, Jimmy, and Alex crossed the street and found a side entrance to the warehouse.

Alex pulled out a lock-picking set, but Jimmy stopped her. "Might as well see if this works," he said.

He bent down to look inside the deadbolt and concentrated. After a moment, the deadbolt turned and Jimmy quietly pulled the door open.

"Nice. If I ever lock myself out of the house, I'm giving you a call," Chuck said with a smile.

Jimmy quietly growled in petulance as the four snuck quietly into the warehouse. Chuck found the stairwell leading to the catwalk and climbed upstairs. Sarah, Jimmy, and Alex moved slowly along the wall with their weapons drawn. They moved from one parking bay to the next.

Jimmy jumped backwards and tackled Sarah and Alex to the ground as one of Ganz's men opened fire with an assault rifle. He rolled along the ground and opened fire, hitting the man in the chest. Sarah and Alex quickly got up and pressed themselves against the wall as they peeked around the corner. Two more men came at them. Sarah opened fire with her gun, taking one out. Jimmy ducked behind a limousine and fired at the other man, who ducked down behind another limousine. The man opened fire at Sarah, who dove behind the limousine next to Jimmy.

"I'll try to flush him out," Jimmy said. He fired twice more and charged down the aisle at the man. The man ran around the other side of the limo and stood up to fire at Jimmy. Alex aimed her gun and dropped him with a single shot.

Sarah spotted an office twenty yards away from them. "They might be keeping her in there."

"Makes sense," Chuck replied over their earpieces. "I can see most of the main floor, and she's not there. But there is no cover at all."

"That's why you're here," Jimmy said. "Open fire at these clowns. As soon as you got them looking the other way, we'll charge out and head for the office. Once we do, get to the car and drive it around to that side of the warehouse."

Chuck moved fifteen feet down the catwalk to get himself into position. Sarah, Jimmy, and Alex moved down the aisle of limousines to the end of the bay. They looked out to see a dozen men moving towards their position.

"Now," Jimmy said.

Chuck opened fire with the assault rifle, nailing one man in the knee and another in the arm. The group turned and tried to locate him. Sarah, Jimmy, and Alex sprinted across the floor and fired away in the process. Chuck flew down the stairs and ran out of the warehouse to the taxi. They made it across to the office. However, the blinds on the windows were pulled down. Jimmy and Alex readied their guns. Alex nodded to Jimmy, who carefully turned the door handle and pushed it open.

Sarah turned when she heard the shouting. Ganz's men were fleeing out of the warehouse.

"Guys, I think…" She was interrupted by a beeping sound.

"Bomb!" Jimmy and Alex screamed at the same time.

The three sprinted for the exit. Jimmy pointed his hands forward and forced the doors open. He then grabbed Sarah's and Alex's arms and threw them outside. Accelerated by his Intersect, they flew threw the air and landed in a pile of cardboard boxes near the dumpster.

The bomb detonated and sent a fireball through the warehouse. Jimmy was launched through the air and was thrown hard into a taxi across the street. He fell to the ground. Sarah and Alex got up and staggered over to Jimmy, who was not moving.


	6. It's Up To You

_And Part II of the final chapter is published. Or the final chapter, depending on how you look at it. I wasn't sure how this story would go, but I think it found its rhythm once it got going. The hardest part is writing the Jimmy/Alex relationship while making it unique from the Chuck/Sarah relationship. Obviously Alex is a bit more of a confident agent, bordering on arrogance, and Jimmy is not as gregarious as our favorite Nerd Herder. But I think there's still plenty the two have in common and plenty the two are different on to make things very interesting. Also, Jimmy has to die at least once a story, so hopefully I got that taken care of._

_Special thanks to everybody who reviewed, especially **Jimmy144**, **Jinxed97**, **Jaytoyz**, **Michael66**, and a huge thanks to **BDaddyDL** who let me bounce a few ideas off of his head. He promised some updates to his stories, so I can't wait to beta those. And **PassionOverMind**, everybody misses you. _

_Thank you, everybody, and please leave some reviews!_

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><p><em><strong>700 W. End Avenue, New York<br>October 14, 2011  
>9:45 AM EDT<strong>_

Sarah and Alex knelt down beside Jimmy, who was still on the ground and unconscious following the explosion in the warehouse. They checked him for any broken bones or severe lacerations. Chuck drove the CIA-issue taxi around to them as Fire Department trucks arrived on the scene to put the fire out. Chuck pulled the first aid kit out of the taxi and handed it to Sarah, who started cleaning the wounds on Jimmy she did find.

Jimmy groaned and tried to move his head. Alex gripped his face.

"James? James?"

Jimmy slowly opened his eyes and moaned slightly from the pain. "You two OK?"

Alex sat back on her knees and glared at him. She was about to raise her hand when Sarah stopped her.

"Wait," Sarah said calmly. "I have a wedding band now."

Alex gave that some thought. "OK, go ahead."

"Thanks," Sarah replied…and smacked Jimmy upside the head.

"Ouch! How many times? Right hand only!" He growled from a combination of pain and aggravation as he turned towards Alex. "I am SO not putting out tonight."

Jimmy slowly sat up and tried to get to his feet…only to stumble and land on his ass.

"Ever consider not getting up?" Alex asked him disdainfully.

"I don't think we have time to rest," Jimmy replied as he tried to get up again. "We still have to find Beckman."

"You know I'm starting to think all that teasing and abuse you took growing up might have actually been good for you," Chuck pondered as he grabbed Jimmy and pulled him up. "You walk away from a lot of things that would put most people in the hospital."

Jimmy nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I do have a kind of _A Boy Named Sue_ motif going, don't I." He leaned on the dented taxi to steady himself, his teeth clenched from feeling pain over every part of his body. "We have to talk to the NYPD and see if they have anybody from the warehouse. I get the feeling any clues as to where Beckman is just got torched."

"I'll go check on that," Chuck replied. He walked over to the site commander as Sarah and Alex kept their eyes on Jimmy.

"By the way, what was that?" Alex asked.

"What was what?" Jimmy was confused.

"When you grabbed us, it felt like being hooked up to a car battery. Was that the Intersect?"

"Well, yeah. It works best when I use it on me. But it also works if I'm holding onto something. That reduces the number of molecules that have to be manipulated."

"So you decided you were expendable and we weren't? Again?"

"Wait, you said you liked that about me."

"Not when you end up through a taxi like that!"

"To be honest, Alex, I have to take Jimmy's side here," Sarah interrupted in an attempt to play peacemaker. "We wouldn't have outrun that explosion. We'd be dead if he hadn't done that."

Alex turned to Sarah. "It never bothers you he has so little regard for himself?"

Sarah shrugged. "He used to be a lot worse. Besides, it's not a matter of not having any regard for himself. He just holds other people in a much higher regard. Especially the three of us."

"Alex, it's hard for me not to be a little protective of Sarah and Chuck," Jimmy replied. "They've had to put up with my ugly ass for the longest time." Sarah smacked him upside the head. "Ow!"

"THAT, on the other hand, bothers the hell out of me," Sarah spat as she glared at Jimmy.

Jimmy held his head from the pain of his headache from using the Intersect combined with his injuries and Sarah's methods of dealing with him as Chuck returned with the site commander and someone in handcuffs.

"I explained what this place was," Chuck told them. "They're attempting to round up anybody else who was in the warehouse. They were actually pulling up to the scene when the building exploded because someone called when they heard the gunfire."

"Where is your boss? Where is Ganz?" Sarah asked the man in handcuffs, who remained silent.

"We have you on a slew of weapons charges, pal," the site commander said in a threatening voice. "Unless you want to spend the next thirty years in prison being someone's bitch, you better answer this lady's question."

"Go screw yourself," the man replied with a sleazy grin.

"James, let me talk to you for a second," Alex said as she gently pulled Jimmy aside. She whispered in his ear.

Jimmy's eyes widened. "Are you sure that will work? It sounds interesting, but I'm a little nervous to…"

Alex nodded and smiled. "If we sell it the right way, it'll work."

Jimmy nodded. "OK, let's do it."

Alex and Jimmy walked back to where Chuck, Sarah, the site commander, and the man he captured was. Alex whispered something to Sarah. Sarah furrowed her brow before turning back to the man in handcuffs.

"I'll give you one last chance," Sarah said to the man. "Either you tell us where Ganz is or I turn you over to Mr. Smith and Miss Jones. And what happens after that will be out of my hands."

"Drop dead, bitch. You don't scare me."

Sarah turned and shrugged. "He's all yours," she said to Jimmy and Alex.

Jimmy grabbed the man by his handcuffs and led him to an area behind the building. Chuck started to follow, but Sarah stopped him.

Chuck was bewildered. "What's going on?"

"The less we know, the better," Sarah replied.

Chuck's bewilderment transitioned into worry. "They're not going to kill him, are they?"

"Chuck, come on. They wouldn't do that." Sarah paused for a moment. "Well, Jimmy wouldn't. I don't think."

Alex pulled an overturned chair to Jimmy, who pushed the man down on it.

"I know my rights. I want my lawyer," the man sneered.

"Do we look like cops?" Alex said as she got in the man's face while Jimmy stood silently. "Now you know the question, and we want the answer right now."

"I work for people ten times more intimidating than either of you losers," the man replied in defiance. "What, are you with the CIA or something?"

"Wrong answer again. The CIA doesn't do their work on American soil. That's the FBI's job. We…don't actually work for anybody, which means anything we do to you isn't tied to any government agency. Nobody to sue or accuse of brutality."

The man remained defiant, but he took the occasional look at Jimmy, who continued to stare quietly at him.

"Now, either you will answer my question, or Mr. Smith here will make things very unpleasant for you. You'll die screaming and crying in terror. And what's more, he'll never lay a finger on you."

The man laughed in disbelief. "Now I know you're full of shit. This asshole couldn't hurt me if you gave him a sledgehammer. So take your Gestapo tactics and shove them up your…"

The man was cut off and became paralyzed with fear as he suddenly had difficulty breathing. Jimmy had his hand raised towards the man with his thumb and index finger close together.

"I find your lack of faith disturbing," Jimmy replied in a low, menacing voice.

"Who, who are you people?" The man clutched his neck and pulled at his collar in an attempt to breathe. "What the hell is this?"

He felt his throat closing further. "Madison…Madison…" he warbled.

"Say again?" Alex asked with a knowing smile.

"Building under construction. On Madison, across from Chatham Park!" the man said in almost a squeal.

"Very well. Mr. Smith, release him."

"As you wish," Jimmy replied. The man coughed and rasped as he tried to take in a breath. Jimmy and Alex casually walked away.

Jimmy looked at Alex and smiled. "I can't believe that worked."

"I knew freaking him out like that would make him talk."

Jimmy and Alex returned to where Chuck and Sarah were waiting. "He's all yours," Alex told the site commander, who went to retrieve his prisoner. She turned to Chuck and Sarah. "There's a building on Madison across from Chatham Park. It's under construction. Beckman is there."

Chuck did some quick research on his laptop. "It must be this one," he said as he showed Sarah, Jimmy, and Alex. "It's a hotel they started building in 2006 but ran out of money when the markets crashed a year later. It's been sitting there ever since. Supposedly a buyer was found last year to finish building it, but they mysteriously dropped out three weeks ago."

"Right when The Ring went down?" Sarah asked. Chuck nodded.

"OK, let's get going," Alex asked.

"Wait a minute." Chuck looked between Jimmy and Alex. "How did you get that guy to talk?"

Jimmy shrugged. "We…convinced him it was the right thing to do."

"But how?"

"He's crazy! That bastard is evil!"

All four turned in surprise as the man Jimmy and Alex interrogated struggled against the site commander as he shoved him into a waiting NYPD squad car.

"He's Darth Vader! He used The Force on me! Arrest him! He's insane!"

Chuck and Sarah turned back to Jimmy and Alex in disbelief. "What the hell did you do?" Sarah asked in a very no-nonsense tone.

"Let's just say the Empire struck back," Jimmy replied dismissively.

They walked back to their CIA-issue taxi and drove to Chatham Park. They pulled up to the hotel and parked on Pearl Street. They disembarked and made their way to the entrance.

Jimmy glanced inside and spotted a man sitting at a computer and two other guards walking around.

"Chuck, let me borrow your tranq gun," Jimmy said. Chuck handed it to him. "Everybody wait here."

Jimmy slipped inside the door and ducked behind a desk. He poked his head out and took aim. He fired at the man sitting at the computer, who slumped in his chair. The two guards turned to see him pass out and started running towards Jimmy, who leaped over the desk and landed a boot at the first man, knocking his gun far away. The man pulled out a knife and attacked him. Jimmy grabbed the man's wrist, pivoted, and landed an elbow at the man's face. He then flipped the man to the ground as the second man tried to come at him. Jimmy spun and landed a roundhouse kick to the man's face to take him out.

He quickly went to the door. "Clear."

Chuck, Sarah, and Alex entered and saw the two men lying on the ground as Jimmy pulled the man at the computer out of his chair.

"Chuck, get on the computer," Sarah ordered. "See if you can locate where they're keeping Beckman."

Chuck sat at the computer and started his work. "Man, I miss having the Intersect," he muttered to himself.

"Wait. NOW you miss it?" Sarah replied as she glowered at Chuck.

"What? No, it's just…now I do a lot of computer stuff, and you three get to do the really cool ass-kicking stuff. I…sometimes I miss that."

"Chuck, we're out of the field now. We agreed we wouldn't be able to go on missions and be married."

"Says the woman who threatened to kick Jimmy's ass if he didn't let us join them up here?"

"That has nothing to do with it. I just needed a break from everything that was going on with the house and my job. You know, if you would actually help me pick the curtains and what kind of area rug to put in the family room…"

Jimmy looked back and forth between Chuck and Sarah. "I'm…uh…going to check down the hallway."

"To see if anybody's coming?" Alex asked.

"Uh…yeah, that's…that's the reason," Jimmy stammered and slowly backed away. Alex glanced at Chuck and Sarah before deciding to join Jimmy down the hall.

"Holy crap. Married three weeks and they're already arguing like that?" Alex shook her head in disbelief. "Thank God we're still in the early, can't-keep-our-hands-off-each-other stage."

"I know. I'd take you right now if weren't on a rescue mission."

Alex gave him a bizarre look. "What happened to 'I am SO not putting out tonight'?"

Jimmy returned her bizarre look. "You actually believed that? Like I have the right to turn down anybody who would want to have sex with me."

"Do not go there." Alex hissed. "Do you even realize when you say stuff like that you're insulting me? Like I've got some weird disease that makes me fall for ugly pathetic losers? I don't give a damn how you grew up; that's over with. So knock it off. Got it?"

Jimmy exhaled in humility. "OK, fine. I'm practically George Clooney."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "Well, I wouldn't go that far." Jimmy glared at her. "Just kidding," she replied with a grin and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

They went back to the main desk where Chuck and Sarah were working on the computer.

"Apparently your argument is over," Alex said.

Both Chuck and Sarah nodded. "We made up," Sarah replied.

"Made up? I'm surprised your clothes are still on," Jimmy quipped.

"Getting back to matters at hand," Chuck said with enunciation. "Beckman's on the tenth floor. Ganz is with her."

"Does Ganz have anybody else up there?" Alex asked.

"No. That's weird. He didn't have anybody else besides the three down here?"

"What about the stairwells?" Sarah asked.

Chuck ran through the cameras. "Nothing in the northwest, southwest, or southeast stairwells." He tried punching up the northeast stairwell. "The cameras are out in the northeast stairwell. Why would that…they're coming from there!"

"How did they…" Alex started.

"One of those assholes in the warehouse must have called Ganz," Jimmy angrily replied.

He ran towards the stairwell and he tried to pull out his gun. However, the first of Ganz's men jumped him, knocking the gun out of his hands. Jimmy gave the man a hard smash to the head and threw him off. The man got up, only to receive a roundhouse kick to the face from Alex.

"Jimmy, go get Beckman," Sarah ordered. "You can get up there the fastest. Alex and I will take care of this."

"You sure?" Jimmy asked.

Alex smiled. "Wouldn't be the first time."

"Go!" Sarah shouted as the remaining seven men tried to come out of the stairwell. Sarah pushed off the desk and landed a boot at the first man through the door. He flew back into the other men, knocking them off-balance. Another one tried to go after them, only to be met by an elbow thrown by Alex.

"Chuck, blind the cameras!" Jimmy shouted. Chuck shut off the cameras as Jimmy grabbed his duffel bag and sprinted for the northwest stairwell.

Jimmy pulled out a piton rifle and attached a heavy-duty winch to his belt. He loaded a grappling hook and fired up the stairwell. The hook wrapped itself around the handrail in the stairwell. Jimmy activated the winch, propelling him up to the eighth floor. He climbed over the railing and ran up the final two stories to the tenth floor.

* * *

><p>One of Ganz's men managed to get in the door and landed a spinning kick to knock Sarah back. He turned and was met a hard jab by Alex. He went down as another man went at her. She put him down with a butterfly kick as Sarah landed a shot on the fourth man coming through and sent the door into the head of that man, who promptly went down. The fifth man nailed Alex with a roundhouse kick, knocking her back into Sarah. The two women staggered back, giving the final three men the opportunity to enter with their guns drawn. Sarah and Alex slowly backed up as a gun was aimed at each of them at pointblank range. The other two men stayed by the door with their guns drawn as well.<p>

The two men by the door fell, revealing Chuck behind them with two tranq guns aimed. The men with their guns aimed at Sarah and Alex turned in surprise, giving the two women the opening they needed to knock their weapons away and take each man down with a ferocious hook.

Sarah and Alex turned towards Chuck, who was holstering his two tranq guns.

"Seriously, your husband is a lot more attractive these days," Alex said quietly to Sarah. "Maybe it's the hair."

Sarah glared at her. "It is definitely…NOT…the hair."

* * *

><p>Jimmy pulled open the door to the tenth floor and cautiously looked around with his gun drawn.<p>

"Mr. Slade," a voice called out. Jimmy froze. "There's a laser sight on the back of your head right now, so I suggest dropping your weapons."

Jimmy had no idea where the voice was coming from, so he had little choice but to obey.

"Turn around," the voice commanded.

Jimmy turned to see Ganz under a single light on the uncompleted floor. He also had a gun pointed at Beckman, who was handcuffed and seated just behind him in the shadows. A canvas bag appeared to be over her head.

"MI-5 already cleared Forrest and me," Jimmy said with a slowly-building anger. "And that bitch you sent to beat up Forrest in Brandonville is having some pleasant conversations into a tape recorder as we speak. I'd say you better get a good lawyer, but since you have a gun to the head of the DNI, I'm thinking she won't involve the courts in this."

"That doesn't mean you won't still come with me. That is, if you want Beckman to live."

Jimmy scoffed. "Go ahead, shoot her. She'd throw my ass to the dogs just as soon as look at me."

Ganz quietly chuckled. "You're not as cold-blooded as you like to think you are. You still have too much heart to be an effective spy."

Jimmy glared at him. "You willing to bet your life on that?"

Jimmy swept his hands, and both guns flew out of Ganz's grip. Ganz stared in surprise.

"I guess those reports from Woodland Hills were right. Beckman kept them under lock and key on her computer, but The Ring always knew how to access them. I didn't want to believe them. But my contact will be very happy with what I have to tell him."

Jimmy started walking towards Ganz, who backed away from Beckman and towards one of the stairwells.

"You think I can't pick you up and throw you into a wall?" Jimmy was at a full boil as he approached the spot where Ganz was. "Stay right where you are. You have nowhere to go."

"Oh, you mean your friends downstairs? A bit of a miscalculation on my part they'd be so successful, but I have another ace in the hole. Did you get a close look at your boss?"

Jimmy turned and could now see all of Beckman. The chair was tipped backwards over an opening in the floor, held in place by two cables.

"What is this, the_ Perils of Penelope?_ What kind of crap are you trying to pull?"

"They haven't installed the elevator yet, but they built a beautiful shaft for it. All the way to the three levels of parking in the sub-basement."

Ganz whipped out a remote and hit a button. Two small C-4 charges detonated and destroyed the anchors holding the cables in place. Jimmy dove for Beckman as her chair fell backwards into the shaft. He got a hold of one of the cables and reached out with his other hand. He held on for dear life to the edge of the shaft with Beckman dangling off the chair. He gripped with his shoes as best as he could as he pulled both of them up. He slid his body up over the edge of the shaft and onto the floor while still hanging on to Beckman. He carefully turned and got to his knees as he used both hands to carefully pull Beckman up to him. He got a hold of her chair and placed it on safe ground. He pulled the bag off of her head and removed the duct tape covering her mouth. Jimmy then staggered to his bag to get a pair of metal cutters out and cut Beckman's handcuffs.

He then collapsed to the ground holding the arm he used to hang on to Beckman's chair.

Beckman got out of the chair and slowly approached him. "Technically, you still haven't been reinstated."

Jimmy looked up and glared at her. "You're welcome."

_**Unknown Location  
>October 17, 2011<br>1:45 AM**_

Ganz paced back and forth. He knew his contact wouldn't be happy he couldn't deliver Slade himself. However, he hoped the files on Slade would be enough to get in the good graces of this organization. He did not know much about it, but he did know they were somehow related to The Ring and to Orion.

"Right on time," a voice behind him said.

Ganz turned around to see his contact and another man. "Mr. Decker, I stayed out of sight. Nobody knows I'm here."

"You said you have someone that could be of value to us?" Clyde Decker asked.

"Yes." He handed Decker a folder. "Beckman kept his name off the books, which is why nobody inside the government knew about him before now. But I was able to put everything together. The man is Jimmy Slade. You knew him before now as Roger Murdock. They put the new Intersect in him. He also received the first Intersect over twenty years ago."

"Slade? So he didn't kill himself in Champaign back in '90? Interesting." Decker glanced over the file. "Did all of this happen? Is he some sort of superweapon?"

"The reports from Woodland Hills indicated that, but I was skeptical until I saw it myself."

"And…you didn't capture him?"

Ganz looked at the ground. "I did my best with the limited resources I had, but Slade had help. Still, I would hope what's in that file is at least enough for you to consider me valuable to your organization."

Decker closed the folder. "I will give your request consideration."

Decker turned to the man with him and nodded. The man pulled out a gun and shot Ganz between the eyes. Decker stepped forward and stood over Ganz's lifeless body.

"After careful consideration, I'm afraid we don't really have any use for you."

Decker and his assistant walked away.

_**Washington, D.C.  
>October 19, 2011<br>10:30 AM EDT**_

"General Beckman will see you now."

Alex glanced at Beckman's receptionist, who pressed a button underneath her desk to let Alex into Beckman's office. Alex walked up to Beckman's desk and sat in the chair Beckman indicated.

"Agent Slade will be back later tonight?"

Alex nodded. "He wanted to be on hand for Matthew's funeral in London. He should be back in a few hours."

Beckman slid a folder across to Alex, who opened it. Alex glanced at the photographs in the file and looked up at Beckman in surprise.

"He was found yesterday afternoon. His body was dumped behind a gas station along I-95 in Delaware."

"Do you think Ganz leaked any information about Slade?"

"That's what the President's advisors are assuming," Beckman somberly replied. "I've been in meetings for the past two days with them. They reached their decision this morning. They want the Intersect project terminated."

Alex felt a cold shiver go through her. "And James?"

Beckman didn't say a word.

"I can't accept that, General."

"Nor can I. The man risked life and limb to rescue me. But we don't have the luxury of being objective. There isn't a terrorist group or unfriendly government who wouldn't take advantage of his abilities. And they wouldn't hesitate to use you, Chuck, Sarah, his family, or Casey for leverage. Slade has to be taken out of the equation."

Alex could feel her heart out of control in her chest. She was having difficulty breathing. "I…I can't accept that. I can't let them do that. I won't. I'll go to my grave before I let those bastards take him."

"That is not your decision, Agent Forrest."

"Then I resign."

"Do you think the President will let you just walk away from this? If you leave, you won't get a gold watch. He'll order two through the back of your head."

"I've dealt with bastards ten times worse than anything he has on the goon squad. Let him take his best shot," Alex said in defiance.

Beckman shook her head sadly. "I knew putting you two together would come back to haunt me one day." Beckman sat forward in her chair and steepled her fingers. "You realize once Slade knows about Ganz's death, he'll come to the same conclusion the President's advisors did. He may know already if MI-5 informed him. He won't hesitate to take his own life to protect the country. You know how he is. He never thought he had anything to live for."

Alex stared out into space before locking eyes again with Beckman. "He has me." Beckman straightened in her chair. "You're right, General. James never had anything to live for…until Chuck and Sarah changed that. And now he knows he can't just walk away without hurting them or me in the process. I think as long as he knows that, he'll do whatever it takes to keep all of us from harm, even the job you tasked him to do. And if that means watching out for himself a bit more, I know he will."

Beckman looked on with a bit of skepticism, but she wanted to believe Forrest, mainly because she didn't want to lose two of her best agents in one day.

"Do you think you can keep him on-task and under control so he doesn't do any more crazy stunts?"

Alex nodded. "He trusts me."

Beckman gave the most minimal of smiles. "That's a lot right there, Agent Forrest. He does not trust a lot of people. He certainly doesn't trust me. But the best agents I ever had never fully trusted me, either." Beckman exhaled slowly. "Very well. I'll convince the President Slade is more valuable alive than dead. But know the day may still come where he'll have to be terminated. Are you sure you can live with that?"

Alex shuddered at the thought. She was about to protest before realizing the choice was between potentially someday down the road or definitely right now. "Yes," she quietly replied.

"You and Slade will report here at 1000 hours tomorrow for your next assignment. That will be all, Agent Forrest. And good luck."

Alex stood at full attention. "Thank you, General."

She turned and headed for the door. "Agent Forrest?" the general called.

Alex turned back. "Yes?"

"You did excellent work. I will accept nothing less from you and Slade on every mission from here on out."

Alex nodded slowly. "Yes, General."

Alex exited the office and returned to her apartment.

_**Hyatt Regency Hotel, Reston, VA  
>October 19, 2011<br>9:00 PM EDT**_

Alex gently knocked on the door to Jimmy's suite, but there was no answer. She was certain he hadn't left the hotel. She took out her skeleton electronic keycard and opened the door. She peeked inside to see Jimmy sitting on the floor staring out the window at the night sky.

Alex crossed the room and sat down next to him. She placed a gentle kiss on his cheek, and he turned to her with a distant look on his face.

"Did I do the right thing?" he asked softly.

"What do you mean?"

"That's…that's all I can think about. I went to London to attend Matthew's funeral, and that's all I've been able to think about. Did I do the right thing in being the new Intersect? I thought I did. I thought I was helping Chuck and Sarah have a happy life together. I thought I was helping the country. But now…Matthew's dead, you and Sarah were inches away from being killed, too, we get locked up for no reason…it just keeps coming back on me."

Alex gently pulled Jimmy's head down, rested it on her shoulder, and buried her face in his hair, giving him a gentle kiss. "It was the right decision. But this job almost never has a happy ending. Satisfying ones, sometimes. But rarely happy ones."

"It doesn't get any easier, does it."

Alex gave a gentle laugh. "If it was easy, anybody could do it. We are two very talented and courageous people. You just didn't believe that until two years ago. And me, I never cared about it until Las Vegas."

Jimmy lifted his head slightly. "Really? You always keep your cool. At least as far as I've seen."

Alex nodded. "I was fueled by hate and anger since 9/11, not unlike what you went through most of your life. The job never gets easier, that's true. But if you gave me the choice between how I lived for my first eight years as agent and how the last year has been since I met you, it's pretty obvious which one I would take."

Jimmy gave a shy smile. "Glad I could help."

Alex wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly. "You have no idea how much you've helped me."

Jimmy held Alex's arms firmly across him. "MI-5 told me Ganz was shot and killed. I'm guessing Beckman wants to terminate the project."

"That was the President's original plan. End the project and you with it," Alex replied quietly.

"Original plan? What changed?"

"There were too many people who would do whatever it takes to protect you. Beginning with me."

"You talked her out of it?"

"Even she knows how valuable you are. She just needed to be convinced you're not the same person you were in the past. That you would think enough of yourself to protect everything you have now."

Jimmy slowly turned to face her. He held her face in his hands as he gazed into her ocean blue eyes. "I do have a lot to protect. Especially the woman I'm in love with."

He pulled her face to him and gave her a soft but ardent kiss. She pulled back for a moment to look into his eyes and saw the confidence she saw every now and then from Jimmy. But this time, it was a confidence that was a part of him, not merely something that came up at the appropriate moment. It was a confidence in them; that they would take on whatever life threw at them together.

"I love you, too," Alex whispered as her eyes began to well up. She wrapped her arms around Jimmy as they kissed passionately, their collective energy threatening to set them ablaze. They kissed and held each other on the floor of the suite the entire night, not even bothering to retreat to the bedroom. They lived in that moment; a moment they would never forget.

_**Vienna, VA  
>October 20, 2011<br>8:45 AM EDT**_

"I got it."

"No, I got it."

"Jimmy, I'm paying for this."

"Uh, two words, Chuckles. Hell and no. I'm not letting you pay for breakfast after everything you two did."

"You don't even have a credit card with you."

"I still have some cash."

Sarah and Alex watched the seemingly endless debate between Chuck and Jimmy over who would pick up the breakfast tab. Neither of them would let go of the book the waitress placed on the table a good five minutes ago.

"Neu-neu-neu-neu-neu-neu."

"Really, Chuck? You're going to do the Mike Myers thing now? Are you gonna sing the Bay City Rollers with a Scottish brogue, too?"

"No infinity. Negatory, good buddy."

Alex snatched the book from both of them. "I'll pay for it. My sanity is worth the price of breakfast."

Jimmy rolled his eyes. "I am so paying you back for that."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? You've thrown everything at me in the bedroom you can think of."

"Or so you think," he replied evilly.

Alex quietly growled. "I'm starting to believe he missed his calling as a Bond villain."

Sarah's iPhone began to ring. "Hello?" She listened for a few seconds before hanging it up and slamming it down on the table.

"Uh, Sarah?" Jimmy carefully started. "Technically, you don't work for the CIA anymore, so those are on your bill now."

"The idiots who were supposed to move our stuff got delayed out west once again," she seethed. "It'll be at least another week before we get our dishes, our bedroom set, and all of our furniture."

Everybody groaned in frustration. "Sweetie, let's just stay at that hotel until everything arrives," Chuck said. "That way, we're not worrying about it and watching TV on my laptop."

Alex's eyes lit up. "Actually, I have a better idea." She pulled a set of keys out of her purse. "James and I have to go on our next mission. Why don't you just stay at my apartment until everything arrives? There's plenty of space, a king-sized bed, a huge plasma TV with Blu-Ray player and satellite, the works."

Sarah looked at Alex like she just offered her a chance to star on Broadway. "Are you sure?"

"It's the least we could do after all the help you gave us." She handed Sarah the keys. "I'll call my cleaning service and tell them to get the place ready and make sure the pantry is stocked."

"Thank you, thank you so much," Chuck replied in relief. He was practically giddy to sleep on a real bed for the first time in days. "We'll be out of there just as soon as we can."

Alex signed the bill. "No rush at all. But if you're still in there on November 7th, you should be prepared to witness our first fight."

Sarah was confused. "Your first fight?"

Jimmy nodded. "Bears-Eagles on Monday Night Football."

Chuck and Sarah laughed. "Oh, you should hire Don King to promote that. Make it a pay-per-view event," Chuck said with a big smile on his face.

Chuck, Sarah, Jimmy, and Alex exited the restaurant and went to their cars.

"Take care, you two," Chuck said as he gave Jimmy and Alex a hug. "If you need anything from my department, don't hesitate to call. They'll put you right through to me."

"Thanks, Chuck," Alex replied. "It's a shame you're not still in the field. You've turned into quite an agent."

"Yeah, if you ever get the itch again, just let us know and we'll pretend we didn't take you with us," Jimmy added.

"Don't even think about it," Sarah said while pointing a wary finger at Jimmy.

"Just teasing, kiddo," Jimmy replied as he gave her a hug. "You keep an eye on him. And don't let those kids at George Mason drive you up a wall."

"I won't." Sarah turned to Alex and gave her a hug. "It was good to see you again."

"You, too, Sarah," Alex replied.

"By the way, Chuck isn't the only one who's gotten hotter recently," Sarah said with a grin, eliciting a growl from Alex. "See? It's not as fun when you're on that side of it."

Alex nodded. "Touché."

Chuck and Sarah got into their respective cars and drove to work. Jimmy and Alex walked to hers.

"Ready to go out and save the world?" Alex asked him.

He gave her a kiss. "Absolutely. I've done it a few times already. I'm pretty good at it."

Alex's eyes widened. "Was that arrogance coming out of you?"

"Just thought I would try it out."

Alex nodded. "I like it. It really suits you."

They both stood in silence for a moment.

"Kind of creepy?" Jimmy asked.

"It freaked me out a little, yeah. Ease into it, OK? Baby steps."

"No problem."

Jimmy and Alex got into her car and drove to the DNI.


End file.
